Pedestrians passing by this double-fronted property may be charmed by the simplicity of the whitewashed Edwardian façade, but they can have no idea of the storming design that has been cooked up out back.
Approaching the property from the back, you could be on not just another street, but in another world. Architecture/interior design firm McBride Charles Ryan have taken the concept of blue-sky thinking to new heights with their Cloud House, a residential property in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. You don’t see gaffs like this on Neighbours.
The rear aspect is an immediate showstopper, imitating the cartoonish clouds of a weather map. The metal exterior is lined with more wood than a gay sauna, and the whole structure also does clever things with heat and light that we’ll leave to the experts. A lap-pool protrudes from the base like a lolling tongue from a resting dog.
A Tetris-style portal serves as a bridge to the interior space of the pre-existing structure, which has also had a more reigned-in but equally inventive treatment. Strewth!
Photography © John Gollings
