Architects:tsai Design

Area:26 m²

Year:2022

Photographs:Tess Kelly

City: Geelong West

Country: Australia

Tsai butcher shop is our home and office in Geelong. The project is divided into 2 stages, the shopfront and office fit-out are completed as stage 1, with the house renovation to the back as stage 2 to be completed next year. The project got its name as the building was once a local butcher shop, we had a vision to convert it into a shopfront house, with an architects’ office and retail shop to the front, and a residential home to the back, the ultimate work-from-home pad.

As a shopfront house, we wanted the place to both add a point of interest to the streetscape, but also balance with the privacy we wanted to enjoy for our house. We added an operable portion to the wall, during the day it opens like a pair of French windows, revealing the architectural models sitting in the operable wall panels, and presenting a framed view of the activities of an architectural office for the neighbors and passers-by. During the night the window panel is closed, creating a shopfront display, showing off our furniture pieces and potentially local artists' paintings on the wall, all the while keeping the privacy of the house.

Inside the office the material palette is kept simple and honest, the wall is partially lined with whitewash plywood panelling, exposing the rest, showing the paints, imperfections, and cracks. We salvaged materials from the demolition to make the columns and framings. We decided to expose them all and feel fitting as an architectural office to present the beauty of construction materials.

The project is completed as a DIY project, via our colleague, Paul Botes, who worked for 8 years as a builder after graduating from architecture.

STAGE 2 - There are many site constraints with this landlocked site, small footprint and inaccessibility to sunlight are the 2 main problems. With a little over 100m2 site area to create separate office and house will result in 2 unsatisfying small spaces. We have a vision for the project to be both a house and an architectural office, during the day, the house opens up as a real lived-in display home for clients to walk through, and with the office in the front, client meetings can happen in the living room over TV screens, staff have access to the full-size kitchen for lunch, and can use the shopfront or up in the greenhouse loft space. At night the operable wall closes, and the whole space becomes private residential, even the occasional midnight overtime can happen while one is wearing PJs.

We like the idea of working with existing building stocks, as the layering of the different uses and functions through he lifecycle of the building creates interesting dynamics and conversation starters, as it tells the story and history of the neighborhood, and importantly it minimizes the creation of additional construction waste, which typically go with each demolition before a new build. Watch out for stage 2!