Studio Bright has renovated the Garden Tower House in Melbourne, Australia.

Garden Tower House is a gymnastic exercise in making a family home with all the amenities of a suburban block fit a tight 4.2 metre-wide site.

In such tight planning, every millimetre has to work hard to realise the programmatic potential – with every wall surface needed to support family life.

"Within this sits the new contribution by our studio, two petite towers with a singular, outer skin of breezeblock, mediating the private realm from its pressing urban context," said Studio Bright. "The humble breezeblock, ubiquitous in postwar Australia, is celebrated."

As a result, the resurrection of a dilapidated 'worker's cottage' sits within the dense urban fabric of Cremorne, Melbourne.

This project has been shortlisted in the house extension category of Dezeen Awards 2023.

Studio: Studio Bright
Project: Garden Tower House