2022 – Sydney Regional Design Awards

The design is based around a private open courtyard as the centre of the house and with direct ocean views through the living areas.

The house presents a very discrete approach towards the street, with low scale and seamless lines, combining a contrasting black charred façade surrounded with a white envelope and hardwood details.

With such limited access to the site, we knew we would have to approach the design and construction in a unique manner. All materials had to be brought in on light utilities or trucks – no heavy machinery or articulated vehicles were possible. This guided our design response, in conjunction with the extreme BAL Fz risk.

We settled on a light framed structure, with bushfire compliant materials, including colorbond steel walls and roof, corten feature cladding, suspended hebel powerfloor, BAL40 windows and doors in combination with integrated bushfire shutters (pre-current AS3959 requirements).

The design is based around a private open courtyard as the centre of the house and with direct ocean views through the living areas. The house presents a very discrete approach towards the street, with low scale and seamless lines, combining a contrasting black charred façade surrounded with a white envelope and hardwood details.

Each home was designed individually to take advantage of the geometry of the site, views, terrain, solar access and privacy. The homes are customised but share a common aesthetic and palette of materials.

On the lower ground level, the kitchen was replanned to make the most of the available space and allow informal dining at the island bench, whilst the opening between the Kitchen & Living area was opened up to allow additional light & ventilation. The ability to remove the later added timber flooring at this level (with an archaeologist on site) allowed the addition of subfloor ventilation and hydronic heating. Reuse of materials as stipulated by the heritage approval offered opportunities with the flagstones in the rear courtyard being lifted, numbered cleaned and replaced. The bricks from the base that had once cradled the laundry copper, were reused to provide an extended garden edging.

With the limited budget of $200,000 it was not possible to excavate under the house in order to create the double garage . Proposing garages or any other enclosed structures in front of the building line is also not in line with the local planning controls. As a solution & to minimise the bulkiness of the development a double carport was proposed . There was an opportunity to create a gable roof over the new carport.

On the lower ground level, the kitchen was replanned to make the most of the available space and allow informal dining at the island bench, whilst the opening between the Kitchen & Living area was opened up to allow additional light & ventilation. The ability to remove the later added timber flooring at this level (with an archaeologist on site) allowed the addition of subfloor ventilation and hydronic heating. Reuse of materials as stipulated by the heritage approval offered opportunities with the flagstones in the rear courtyard being lifted, numbered cleaned and replaced. The bricks from the base that had once cradled the laundry copper, were reused to provide an extended garden edging.

The new ground floor which is more easily access from the street incoporates a living, dining and kitchen, as well as a second bathroom, laundry and an internal stair to the first floor. The space over the garage was turned into a large terrace easily accessed from the new living areas. To keep maintenance on the house to a minimum all exterior products were selected for their natural beauty and minimal maintenance. Natural materials were also selected throughout to minimise off gassing. The building was clad in Shou Sugi Ban a charred timber that is fire resistant, termite resistant and most importantly requires very little maintenance.

Multi dwelling residential development consiting 3 double storey townhouses where all the three units have access to the views and do not compromise the privacy.

On the lower ground level, the kitchen was replanned to make the most of the available space and allow informal dining at the island bench, whilst the opening between the Kitchen & Living area was opened up to allow additional light & ventilation. The ability to remove the later added timber flooring at this level (with an archaeologist on site) allowed the addition of subfloor ventilation and hydronic heating. Reuse of materials as stipulated by the heritage approval offered opportunities with the flagstones in the rear courtyard being lifted, numbered cleaned and replaced. The bricks from the base that had once cradled the laundry copper, were reused to provide an extended garden edging.

The occupants are a busy family of 5 who prioritise an active lifestyle, outdoor living, entertaining and a sustainability. Therefore, the home should be designed to complement an energetic and interactive family dynamic while considering zoning and adaptive spaces for privacy and separation as required.

The basement car park design managed to achieve 12 car spots 7 motor bike spots and placements for twenty pushbikes. I also added two extra access emergency fire exits and a uni-sex shower, toilet and change room, and accommodation for four electric car charging stations. The ground floor has a formal entry, with large piano bar area with dance floor. There is also booth seating along the main street frontage window. The piano bar flow onto the cafe which open out to table and seating on the terrace.

The house location on the block was chosen, together with the clients, just to the north of the highest point on the site. The building faces solar north and the eaves and overhangs were sized to allow sun in winter and shade in summer. A number of natural building material options were discussed with the clients, including Hempcrete, but they chose to go with loadbearing mudbrick, due to the low embodied energy, local manufacture of the mudbricks and local mudbrick builder. The natural finishes were continued inside with limewash on the walls and natural oil to the timber windows.

The studio is positioned at the rear of the site providing maximum privacy to the main residence. It has a western orientation with high celestial windows to attract Northern and eastern light and pergola shading over the deck area to protect from Summer’s afternoon sun. Floor to ceiling louvres and large, shaded folding windows and doors maximise cross ventilation. The overall floor plan has been designed to maximise valuable space, boasting a variety of cabinetry and storage options for a building if this size. The kitchen and living windows and doors fold back completely to expand the living space out onto the deck for entertaining.

The residential design solution promotes the concept of separating the private and public spaces connected through the focus of a central courtyard. The courtyard immediately brings the outdoors into the internal space. This creates optimal solar access to the North East, allowing good cross ventilation. The courtyard reads as another living space, it provides a sense of extended space with borrowed views through and expanding site lines and weaves the residence together as a whole; landscape and house. The high ceilings above a generous sized kitchen and open plan living, celebrate a love of entertaining and a sense of social abundance. The private bedroom wing flows through a calm corner of a study space through to tucked away bedrooms for extra privacy.

The units were designed maximise the green space that was available to each unit privately and also with a central communal area to promote socialisation and interaction between residents including incidental interaction as residents move between spaces. The units were angled to maximise passive solar access with living spaces and the widest part of the building oriented to the north. Each unit has generous access to either a private ground floor garden or a roof garden to enhance the well-being of all residence via biophilic design. This is especially important in a pandemic with lockdowns and isolation requirements.

To fit the project into the irregular shaped site and maximize solar access, the building has been split into two wings and open to north. Meanwhile, the space between two wings has been formed as a communal space for internal users. Carpark entry has been set from Darlington road as this side’s traffic is not as busy as city road, so it won’t cause extra traffic loads to the main road.

To Achieve an sustable design, The building’s flexible design evolved from the need to provide a space for office, studying, and above all, gathering as a community. The building Envelope features ground level cafe, floor-to-ceiling windows and roof top garden. Dedicated to natural light, social interaction this elegant and transparent building is carefully sited on a major thoroughfare, giving it a strong visible presence and making it easily accessible to the local community.