Unified by Design: Clarke’s Striking Batten Facade by Austin Maynard Architects

Project Info

Project Name: Clarke

Architect: Austin Maynard Architects

Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

In Clarke, Austin Maynard Architects demonstrate how architecture can transcend the functional to become poetic, embedding deeply considered solutions within the language of form. A modest weatherboard cottage - once dark, cramped, and ill-suited for a family of four working from home - has been reimagined through an extension and renovation that is both bold and quietly elegant. Central to its transformation is the batten screen: an element that unifies new and old, privacy and openness, shading and framing.

The timber batten screen acts as both a striking architectural feature and a smart solution for privacy and solar shading

From Constraint to Craft

When the clients - parents and two teenage daughters - realised that after a decade of living in the cottage, particularly during lockdowns, the existing layout no longer worked, the brief shifted. They sought “more considered and purposeful space”: modern but not boxy, bright but cosy, social but also private. Their year in Japan had seeded an appreciation for simplicity, efficiency and design decisions that serve both beauty and function.

Sliding batten screens bridge the old cottage and the new extension, creating a unified and visually harmonious design

Austin Maynard Architects were tasked not merely with adding square metres but with rethinking how space, light, privacy, and everyday life could be better woven into the home. The result is a stepping, overlapping, sculptural addition. Its geometry responds to the constraints of the lot, the flow of light, and the need for separation, while the materials and detailing elevate the experience.

A new side entry re-directs the flow through gardens and open spaces, celebrating a seamless transition from inside to out

The Batten Screen: More Than Ornament

It is in the hardwood batten screen that Clarke’s design finds its backbone - both literally and metaphorically. These battens act in many roles:

+ Unification: They visually tie together the old weatherboard cottage and the new addition. Although the materials differ, the battens follow the pitch of the old roof, carrying its line forward and creating a shared design “DNA.”

+ Privacy & Shade: Large sliding batten screens conceal service areas (bikes, bins) and protect against overlooking, particularly where the addition could otherwise expose interior spaces to neighbouring lots. These screens also shade glazed surfaces, helping modulate summer heat while allowing winter sun.

+ Spatial Definition & Transition: The battens serve as thresholds, defining the lounge/pavilion, verandah areas, light-wells, and glazing zones. They blur inside/outside edges—sliding façade elements can open up corners into garden, creating flexibility in use and experience.

The timber screen defines a flexible outdoor living space, blurring the line between the home and its garden

Poise in Plan & Section

The spatial strategies in Clarke are subtle but powerful:

+ Pocket gardens / light-wells are interspersed to draw light deep into the plan, aid cross-ventilation, and create visual relief, greenery and air inside the footprint.

+ Access is re-configured: a new side entry bypasses private zones, directing movement through garden views and open spaces rather than traditional formal corridors.

+ The upstairs “apartment” for the teenagers is a layered retreat: bedrooms, study/TV/retreat, even a secret craft-room, each benefiting from the duality of privacy and connectivity. High ceilings, varied volumes, and thoughtful separation allow both solitude and shared life.

Pocket gardens draw light and fresh air deep into the floor plan, creating lush, green views from within the home

Sustainability & Everyday Rituals

Clarke doesn’t sacrifice environmental and functional performance for style. Instead, the two are intertwined.

+ The original structure has been retained where possible; fabrics improved thermally with added insulation, double glazing, and upgraded structure.

+ The home is fossil fuel free, 100% electric, with solar panels, provision for battery storage, and an electric car charging point.

+ Orientation is carefully considered: glazing and pavilion placements maximize northern and eastern sun, while batten screens limit harsh summer sun and allow winter solar gain to warm the thermal mass of flooring.

An upper-level net offers a playful, private retreat for the teenage daughters, balancing connection and solitude

Architecture That Respects Life

What is most compelling about Clarke is how it respects the many rhythms of family life: working from home, teenage retreats, noise, privacy, shared meals, and entertaining. Every function—however mundane (bikes and bins, laundry, storage)—has been woven into the architectural narrative rather than hidden awkwardly. The batten screens conceal, filter, define; the overlapping volumes provide moments of joy; the transitions from inside to outside are generous and purposeful.

In Clarke, Austin Maynard Architects show that constraints are not limitations but opportunities. The batten façade is more than a design statement—it is a carefully calibrated device, one that unifies, protects, frames, and connects. The result is not merely a renovated house, but a home that feels expansive, anchored, alive.

PHOTO CREDIT: Austin Maynard Architects