Hello House, reaching out to the neighbourhood

Hello House by Australian design office OOF! architecture is the makeover of an old shop-residence in the Melbourne residential suburb of Richmond, with a cheeky but friendly greeting on its facade.



HELLO is the message designed by the architects from OOF! architecture in the Melbourne, Australia suburb of Richmond, an area with a mixture of 19^th century heritage buildings and ‘60s and ‘70s brick flats. 





A conversation starter from a single-storey corner building on a long, narrow plot, like many others in this area. So what makes this one so special? The white brick wall designed in collaboration with local artist, Rose Nolan, which spells out the word "Hello".



A friendly, open greeting, a way for the clients to engage with their neighbourhood, particularly with the locals dropping into the café almost opposite the single-family home, and at the same time the hiding a whole world behind it.



This design choice is set off by the redistributed interiors to make the house more suitable for contemporary lifestyles: the living, dining and kitchen areas now open onto the back garden, with full-height windows bringing in daylight and fresh air and the wall that turns it into a private retreat. 





Simple materials – plywood, brickwork, industrial trusses – were selected for the interior design, stressing the importance of ideas and not of things, as explained by Fooi-Ling Kooh from OOF! architecture: "One of the things with this house is that, while we may have spent more money on things like the Hello wall and the joinery, it wasn't a question of buying flashy, shiny materials and expensive designer furniture; we used commonly available materials, but paid people to put in the extra time and thought to treat the materials with craft."



Another clear message, in line with the sustainable design, with the added touch of putting a smile on the faces of passersby.

(Christiane Bürklein)
  
Project: OOF! architetcure. http://www.oof.net.au/
Location: Richmond, Melbourne – Australia
Year: 2014
Images: http://www.nicgranleese.com/ 
2014 ArchiTeam Awards People's Choice Award