The Design Files: Generations of design at Featherston House

Who: Julian and Vicky Featherston

What: A new era for Melbourne’s iconic Featherston House, designed by Robin Boyd

Where: Ivanhoe

Julian Featherston grew up in Featherston House – the iconic Robin Boyd home designed for his parents, Grant and Mary Featherston – but he never imagined he would one day renovate and make it his own family home.

Today, Julian lives here with his wife Vicky Featherston and two children, marking the fourth generation (including Grant and Mary’s parents who used to occupy an apartment on site) to live in the iconic house.

“It was a series of decisions that were made by our family, including Mary, over a number of years that led to us updating/altering the house,” Vicky says. “Our goal with updating the house was to achieve a balance between respecting the legacy of the house while adapting it for our modern family and lifestyle.”

Boyd designed this home in 1968 for Mary and Grant, who requested a “shed-like building” incorporating a garden, home, professional workplace and entertaining space in one. Vicky aptly describes the space as being “as outside as you can be, while being inside”.

The original design was incredibly ahead of its time, and in some regards, Julian and Vicky’s recent renovations have enabled Boyd’s vision to finally be properly realised. For example, the current translucent roofing is actually in its third iteration – achieved with polycarbonate multicellular sheets, after technology caught up to Boyd’s original idea of a translucent roof.

Grant and Mary made several alterations over the years to make the house more liveable and functional, while still retaining its essence.

“As a family, we’ve always tried to be sensitive with any changes, so it’s not always obvious what’s old or new,” Vicky says.

One ongoing challenge for the impossibly open-plan home has been an invisible one – temperature control. This conundrum eventually led Julian and Vicky to design their own customised climate control system – HAL Systems.

“We wanted the house to work with its environment by actively responding to future weather conditions,” Vicky says. “For example, when it’s warm the next day, you open your windows the night before to bring cool air in. We wanted to use predictive software to do this kind of thing automatically and intelligently. It turned out that it didn’t exist, so we built it ourselves!”

Perhaps the most significant change has been the relocation of the main bedroom to under the living platform, which has created an intimate and semi-subterranean space surrounded by garden.

With three generations of Featherstons now living under one roof (sort of!), it’s safe to say this is a home that seamlessly interweaves past, present and future.

How to Renovate

• To upgrade or to renovate? It’s a question many home owners grapple with. If you’re ready to dive in and upgrade, enhance or extend your existing home, consider the following.
• For extensions and major structural renovations, consider a registered architect. If you’re not sure where to start, check out the Australian Institute of Architects “Find an Architect” resource at findanarchitect.com.au
• For internal renovations including spatial planning, design of joinery and the selection of finishes, fixtures and fittings, an interior designer may be better suited to the job. If you’re not sure where to start, the Design Institute of Australia website (design.org.au) has a national database of interior designers you can browse through.
• When renovating, take the opportunity to upgrade your home’s energy efficiency at the same time – you’ll thank yourself later! If you open internal walls, put in insulation. Seal cracks and gaps, double-glaze where possible, and add blinds or window furnishings to assist with passive heating and cooling.
•  Triple check the location of all power points and light switches before they go in and consider placement of furniture and lamps.
• Do less. Minimise demolition as much as possible. Working with as much of the original footprint of the home as you can will save both time and money.

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