Australian Sustainable Hardwoods - Glass Link House

In the ‘burbs of Melbourne stands a renovation to rival its neighbouring homes. What was once a rough, potentially ‘knock it down’ structure, turned into a 100sqm family home with an honest, contemporary aesthetic.

Owned and designed by architect Robbie Walker, the ‘Glass Link House’ was a much needed home for their family of 5. Robbie, architect, renovation extraordinaire and furniture maker has years of experience in residential design, with even a few shipping container builds in his repertoire.

After building the main bedroom ‘pod’, Robbie cut out a hole in it and added a glass link from the main house to the pod. “The link works so well, not just showing the difference between old and new, but it gives the hall and bedroom lots of light and adds an exciting feature to the home” as added by Robbie.

Timber is heavily featured throughout the Glass Link House, “I love using timber as much as I can, especially when its good quality hardwoods that have been sustainably grown” added Robbie.

“I used 42×19 Victorian ash on the rafters and 119×19 to make a feature of the ceiling joists, which also created a nice detail for the track lighting. Victorian ash was also used for the flooring in the extension and bath hob detail. When the house was finished, I was really pleased with the outcome” as further explained by Robbie.

GoodWood Victorian ash is a common timber used in Melbourne homes like Robbie’s because it has fantastic thermal performance, can be stained to match any decor, is very strong, straight and stable, consistently blonde in colour and sustainably grown.