Fellows By JAK Architecture
A 1970s brick home on the suburban streetscape is carefully reworked by JAK Architecture into a considered weekend retreat – where restraint, warmth and the ease of shared living shape every detail.
Words HANDE RENSHAW Photos PIER CARTHEW Styling JESS KNEEBONE Build KAPITAL CM
From the street, Fellows gives little away – a familiar brick home, complete with 1970s awnings and an unassuming presence.
The new entry to the northern side, where timber, brick and a careful palette of Manor Red offer the first hint of the detail that carries throughout.
The open living and kitchen space features Moroccan Clay and Burnt Ochre, warm timber and a tiled island for relaxed weekend living.
Laminex became a key material throughout, not only for its durability and cost-effectiveness but for its rich, tactile colour range.
Moroccan Clay and Burnt Ochre bring depth and warmth to the kitchen, living spaces and fireplace hearth — tones that feel as though they have always belonged.
The brief was to craft a beach house that didn’t take itself too seriously. Colourful, robust, and joyful in a way that suits shared weekend living.
The connection to the garden anchors the living zone and brings the outside in.
In the kitchen Laminex Burnt Ochre Natural grounds the space.
“What appears from the street as a classic Australian brick home - complete with 70s awnings and a modest suburban façade, holds a very different story within.”
With the doors drawn back, the living and kitchen open onto the deck and the garden beyond.
A full-height brick fireplace becomes the focal point of the living room, its Burnt Ochre hearth and stack-bond detail echoing the material language of the home.
Bed linen in Chestnut and Grey & White Stripe from In Bed.
Bathroom joinery in Laminex Bayleaf Natural and Sage Tessellated Tiles from Di Fazio.
Colourbond Manor Red has been applied to the roof times, gutters and downpipes.
Kangaroo paw in full bloom against the stack-bond brick.
Outside, Corten steel planters anchor the garden as young citrus trees take hold — rust and brick, the palette extending beyond the walls.
From the street, Fellows gives little away. A modest brick home, settled in its 1970s character, sitting comfortably within its neighbourhood. It is only at the entry that the home begins to reveal itself — a subtle shift in the brickwork, a clue to what has been carefully reconsidered within.
For JAK Architecture, that unassuming exterior became the foundation for something defined not by expansion, but by restraint. Rather than replace, the approach was to retain, holding onto the existing footprint and form while allowing the interiors to carry something more expressive. A project about reworking, not reinvention.
The home is shared by two families as a weekend retreat, and the brief asked for flexibility without excess. Existing concrete balconies were drawn into the interior and reimagined as usable rooms, articulated through a stack-bond brick that sits in contrast to the original running bond. The distinction is intentional: a nod to time and intervention, where the additions feel connected but never concealed.
A key move came through the repositioning of the entry to the northern side. With it, the original long, enclosing hallway was removed, allowing the home to open directly into its living spaces. The plan shifts from segmented to fluid, sleeping quarters can be closed off when needed, while a generous kitchen, dining and living zone unfolds along the reworked edge, anchored by light and a sense of ease. A bunk room sits alongside, designed with a looseness that reflects the rhythms of shared occupancy.
Materially, the project carries a warmth that draws from the existing structure without replicating it. Laminex became a key material throughout for its durability and tonal depth, with Moroccan Clay and Burnt Ochre introducing a grounded richness that sits comfortably against the red-brown brick. The exterior palette moves inward with a sense of restraint — the result feeling robust yet considered, suited to sandy feet, long lunches and the informality of a weekend away.
The junction between old and new is handled with care — curved brickwork marking the threshold without drawing attention to itself. Even the utilitarian details, the gutters, downpipes and fascias, are brought into the conversation, expressed in Manor Red and executed with the kind of consistency that only comes from close collaboration with Kapital CM builders.
Fellows is not a project that seeks to overwrite what came before. Instead, it reframes it, retaining the familiarity of the original home while introducing a new clarity in how it is lived. A beach house in spirit, shaped by use rather than excess, where durability, adaptability and a sense of ease feel entirely at home.
Project: Fellows, Point Lonsdale, Australia
Architect: JAK Architecture
Photography: Pier Carthew
