Olaver's Laneway Studio Glows Behind a Melbourne Family Home

Australian practice Olaver has completed a two-storey studio behind a Melbourne family home, capped by a facade of glass blocks set in recycled white brick above a concrete band beam. The practice calls the building Laneway Studio. It serves a family of five who had outgrown their existing house without renovating it.

Olaver director Emlyn Olaver designed the structure to read as a "beautiful object" — reflecting light into the garden by day and glowing like a lantern at night. The project offered the clients a practical alternative to a conventional rear extension.

What does the building contain?

The programme splits across two floors:

• Ground floor: an open-plan living area with concealed laundry facilities and a bar.
• First floor: a combined study and guest bedroom with an en-suite and a small roof terrace.

The studio block sits behind the main house and a newly configured garden by landscape architect Penny Starr, which includes a pool and planted foliage areas. Large glass-panelled sliding doors lead from both the house and the studio into the garden, connecting interior and exterior living space.

A second sliding door, oak internally with a steel-clad exterior, opens the studio's living space onto the laneway behind the property.

How does the plan open up?

"With large sliding doors on opposing walls, the ground floor can open right through, so it works as an extension of the garden and pool terrace to the laneway rather than a closed room," Emlyn Olaver told Dezeen.

"Open, the space feels far bigger than its footprint, and the family can spread across the house, the pool and the studio as one connected space when entertaining," she continued.

The takeaway: two doors on opposite walls turn a compact footprint into a through-route from pool terrace to laneway.

Why glass blocks instead of windows?

On the first floor's east-facing wall, overlooking the garden, the glass-block facade sits above a concrete band beam. Olaver installed it to bypass planning restrictions on the use of conventional windows.

The facade admits soft morning light while protecting privacy in the first-floor interior. Viewed from the garden and the house at night, it transforms the studio into a "glowing lantern", the practice said.

What is inside?

The ground floor is minimal and open-plan, finished in neutral terrazzo flooring throughout. Oak cabinetry conceals storage, laundry facilities and a TV nook, and frames a central bar area with a stainless-steel sink and surround.

"We wanted the studio to be calm, with joinery doing the heavy lifting so each space can change roles without feeling cluttered," Olaver explained.

"Every space had to do more than one job; a laundry, a living room or a bar depending on the day. That flexibility also gives the building a longer life, because the family's needs will keep changing as the kids grow up, move out and come back."

The first floor carries the same multi-functional logic. Red wraparound tiling in the bathroom is echoed by red panelling in the nook of a foldable bed, which hides behind more oak joinery when not in use.

"The new studio's interiors echo the existing home's rich but calm textures," Olaver said. "Natural materials and tactile elements exist in both spaces, but the studio is slightly more playful in its approach."

The takeaway: one room, several roles — the joinery absorbs every function the family does not want on display.

What does the project argue for?

The commission asked Olaver to extend the home of a family rapidly outgrowing their space. Her response challenges the default Melbourne model.

"In Melbourne, the usual answer is yet another extension that eats into the backyard," she said. "Laneway Studio goes the other way, keeping the garden at the centre of the site and showing how a well-designed studio can add flexibility and density to an existing lot."

The project positions garden studios as a densification strategy for established suburban lots — adding floor area while preserving, rather than consuming, the backyard. For households weighing renovation against a separate structure, Laneway Studio offers a working precedent.