The owners of this modest renovation had lived in their northern beaches home for a number of years and had raising their 2 children. The site has a checkered past with the traditional 3 frontage home layout compromised by the expansion of it’s arterial road that resulted in the house being turned around. Subsequently, previous multiple additions to re-oreintate the house to the new street front were unsuccessful. This resulted in a tight floor plan with multiple internal rooms that had very little regard for orientation and outlook.

casa figueira

the pool house

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infosys portland

fitzroy north residence

frank macs

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a+c Residence

the whyte house

gilliver residence

the doss house

torquay house

casa m

macmasters beach house

b+v house

warriewood residence

waterford

t+d house

Narrabeen Residence

casa crisp

john shaw close

mb residence

a+h apartment

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The Crescent

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19 gregory

b&s hq

the rook

the winery

d+k house

tm house
board house
The brief consisted of rationalising the floor plan to make better use of the positive environmental aspects of Sydney’s temperate climate. A leaking roof, and low ceiling helped to justify the removal of the northern corner of the house, and to replace it with a skillion roof with large eaves and highlight windows that captured winter sunlight and framed views of the sky and trees.
A new Kitchen and Living area were positioned on the northern corner of the house. The roof extruded beyond the surrounding existing roof to allow natural light and ventilation through operable highlight glazing and solid timber panels. In summer, the high level timber hatches controlled by a simple pully system remain constantly open, protected from the weather by a generous eave. This allows the hottest air that is typically trapped at the ceiling to naturally vent away
The final layout involved the creation of 2 new outdoor areas that resulted in a reduced footprint from the original home. This allowed further glazing and operability into the external wall of the home. It is a credit to the owners and a rare blessing for a brief to prioritise quality and performance over square meters.

Modest material selections focussing on timber detailing and recycled bricks were integrated throughout to compliment the existing structure. The builder was able to recycle the oregon timber studs from the original walls and utilise them in timber detailing to the interior. Bamboo floors, plywood ceiling and exposed orogen framing in the eaves all helped to maximise carbon banking that comes with the use of timber.

“We endeavoured to separate the function of viewing and ventilation from within apertures” – Kurt Crisp