Accessible living alterations - 90’s masonry home
Forrest Alterations: Building changes for life-giving impact.
Some projects are more about an aesthetic, or an interesting architectural idea. This one is all about help.
Life, after all, can bring unforeseen challenges. After incurring a disability as a result of a long illness, our clients’ family home of some 23 years required thoughtful interventions to restore independence and quality of life.
Project Type Accessible Living - Mid Range Renovations to a 90’s Masonry Home
Location Forest Lake, QLD
Client Private Residential
Completion 2025
Builder G King Building
Occupational Therapist Nurture and Flourish Therapy
Structural Engineering GAMA Consulting
Photography onemustardseed
Scope Full Services
The Beginning: Client Vision & Site Context
A beloved home that has served the family well - but needs have changed.
This was a neat, single storey red brick cottage under the gum trees in suburban Forest Lake - home for the family for over two decades. With the kids having grown up and started families of their own, and illness bringing new requirements for wheelchair-appropriate spaces, we were tasked with preparing the home for the next chapter of our clients’ lives.
Specifically, they were looking for a solution that met specific needs while, at the same time, feels like home and not some sort of clinic.
“At the start... Dad has been in a wheelchair. I remember before this renovation started, we had rubber ramps and we had areas of the house he couldn’t even access. To go from that to now here, where he’s not bound to an area of the house - he can go right through the whole kitchen. He can access all the bathrooms. He can be a part of all the conversations. That to me has been the real winner in all of this. ”
Our Design Response
Modest Interventions for Livability and Celebrating Family
Our response reinterpreted the specialist Occupational Therapist’s early plans. We relocated the kitchen to the back wall of the house; allowing us to adapt the former Media Room into a generous Pantry and Laundry with sufficient space for internal hanging. Widened hallways and doorways, and a renovated Master Ensuite met practical accessibility needs while providing a more refined aesthetic. A new patio, folded to bring in more northern light, further adds to day-to-day livability and introduces a covered, accessible path of travel from the garage into the heart of the home.
“People say to me... is it worth engaging an architect for a renovation? Because your average builder could probably come into most homes and do a good job, you know, replace the flooring, repaint the house, put in some new lights. Job done. But I think what an architect brings is personality. Personality… and also just an eye for what looks good. Someone who is experienced to give advice on how best to lay out a home, to get the best out of your home, and so much more. So we felt that it was a really, really worthwhile thing to do for a renovation.”
Our Impact
The result: Architecture that gives life
This little renovation is modestly scaled, to the point where it’s almost imperceptible from the street. Internally, we helped to bring a home out from the 1990’s - and it’s always nice to be able to give an older home an uplift.
But most importantly, the difference that the changes have made to Tim and family’s life is profound. It’s in the everyday - being able to cook, clean, rest, move in-and-out and through different spaces, and enjoy being a grandparent with a high degree of independence. It’s also the ability to entertain family and friends - gatherings of up to 35, seeing the faithful home re-energised as a place of welcoming, hospitality and joyful social interactions.
“As your daughter, and like all your children... (the impact is) seeing Dad feel safer. And even for Mum. Mum was having to do a lot of those things for Dad. I feel like Mum’s able to really step back, really enjoy the space for herself.
It’s empowered Dad, and it’s really made Mum feel more relaxed.
You walk in here and you can tell that this place is a real home and so well suited for Mum and Dad...
It’s a real, a real gift that you have given my parents.”
Watch the Interview with Tim and Ruthie
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