The Cubby House

main living space
reflecting closet

Coined as The Cubby House, the Australian studio of Edwards Moore remodeled an apartment in Melbourne with a design influenced by Adolf Loos's Raumplan concept from the 1920's. Loos claimed "ornament was a crime" and believed design should be simple and functional. The Raumplan concept aims to create continuous living spaces and a flow throughout a structure, avoiding traditional room divisions.

On this upstairs renovation, Moore has done just this. In the Cubby House Moore has used press board as the main material in creating functional spaces in places usually used for decorative furniture. For example, in a master bathroom, one often finds an antique commode holding the sink but in Moore's design, press board is used to make open cubbies within the carpentry framing the sink. Press board is also made into functional space in the kitchen creating cubbies areas that would otherwise dead space. The simple material allows for the wood to be replaced at an inexpensive price at any time.

Walls are minimal and when they are used, they have a major functional component, such as the rotating closet that serves as a room divider. Similarly, one large wall is made useful along the living space with floor-to-ceiling cubbies. This house creates functional design in an innovative way that turns simplicity into beauty.