Brick and concrete walls enclose outdoor spaces at River House extension in Brisbane

Architect Christopher Furminger has completed an extension to a home in Brisbane, Australia, featuring robust walls that frame gardens, courtyards and paths linking the living spaces.

Furminger was asked to expand the existing weatherboard home, named River House, by adding a garden and carport along with a new entrance and extra rooms for the owner's family.

Christopher Furminger has added a brick and concrete extension to a house in Brisbane

The Australian architect's interventions occupy the area between the street and the single-storey house, which is located in the city's Chelmer neighbourhood and backs onto the Brisbane River.

To reduce costs and minimise disruption, the original building fabric and site plan were preserved as much as possible, allowing the owners to continue living in the house while work was ongoing.

The River House extension is designed to look like a ruin

Furminger's design, which is intended to evoke a ruin, involved reducing the structure to a series of monumental elements that enclose the parking area, garden and entrance.

"The intention was to create a building with a presence all of its own," the architect explained, "to loom with physical power, embodying a geometric order with primitive structural force."

Large concrete walls conceal the original single-storey home

Masonry and concrete walls separate the site into different functional zones, including open and private courtyard gardens.

"The main garden walls wrap the internal rooms of the existing building, creating a structure that appears to have no glass nor function," Furminger added. "This contributes to the ruin metaphor, forming a solid physical mass embodying the endurance of a ruin – reduced to what lasts."

Courtyards and gardens are framed by the concrete walls

The outer walls of the River House are constructed from a palette of bricks in five different brown and beige hues. The colours were chosen to match stones and sand collected during the site's excavation.

Perforations in some of the surfaces allow light and air to pass through, creating a stronger connection with the outdoors.

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The extension also makes use of commercial materials and construction techniques such as tilt-up concrete walls, which are created by pouring concrete into moulds on the ground and then hoisting them into place.

Plumbing and electrical wiring were integrated into the tilt-up panels to reduce the number of trades required on site, while precast concrete flooring was used for the roof sections.

The home's interiors can be adapted to the owner's changing needs

Within River House's brick perimeter, a pair of external monolithic concrete walls conceal the living spaces from the street. Only the entrance is visible through a gap created by separating the large slabs.

A similar method of separation was used to create a void in the roof of the carport that allows daylight to reach a doorway leading into a boot room.

Ground floor living spaces look out onto the courtyards

Behind the concrete walls, the living spaces are separated into distinct zones with separate entrances. This versatile arrangement will allow the family to adapt the house to their changing needs over time.

A path flanked by courtyard gardens leads to a lobby that provides access to a bedroom suite on one side and a guest bedroom on the other.

There are a mix of private and open courtyards

River House's boot room is accessed from the carport, while a staircase ascending from one of the courtyards leads to a studio on the first floor.

Each of the ground-floor spaces connects with one of the courtyards and the first-floor studio features windows looking out over the roof of the existing house towards the river.

One courtyard has a staircase that leads to a studio space

Elsewhere in Australia, Olson Kundig recently completed a Sydney home that is lined with louvred shutters that expose the living areas to sea views and fresh air.

Conrad Architects designed a marble-clad home in Melbourne that has a roof terrace and pool overlooking the city's skyline.

The photography is byDavid Chatfield.

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#all #residential #architecture #brisbane #australia #courtyards #bricks #extensions #residentialextensions #australianhouses #concretehouses

Timmins + Whyte renovates "considered and crafted" Melbourne house with folded roof

Ribbed wooden cabinetry and peach-hued corner seating feature in this Melbourne home, which Australian studio Timmins + Whyte renovated with an extension that has a chunky folded roof.

The project, called 10 Fold House, updates a single-fronted Edwardian property in Abbotsford – an inner-city suburb of Melbourne.

Timmins + Whyte has added an extension to a house in Melbourne

Timmins + Whyte's renovation introduces a two-storey extension to the rear of the dwelling, maintaining its original facade at street view.

The extension features a statement roof with ten asymmetrical folds in it, playfully owing to the home's name that puts a new spin on the word tenfold.

The extension has a folded roof

Inside, Timmins + Whyte chose a material and colour palette that is described by the studio as "considered and crafted". It is illuminated with skylights in the folded roof above.

Light timber that lines the underside of the roof is echoed in the open-plan kitchen and living space, which is located on the ground floor of the extension under a high ceiling.

Wood defines the interiors

Ribbed wood is used as shelving and decorative panelling in this space, as well as for the base of a marble-topped kitchen island.

In the dining area, black and grey terrazzo flooring forms a backdrop to peach-coloured corner seating and a mid-century-style oak table and chairs.

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These areas are also filled with an eclectic collection of artworks, from a colourful abstract print to a quirky sculpture of a cat. A multi-coloured stained glass screen also animates the stairwell.

"Throughout, the space creates its own sense of expansion and compression," said Timmins + Whyte.

An elegant green Acapulco chair sits in the courtyard

At the back of the house, there is a small courtyard that includes an elegant green Acapulco chair.

"The design further opens the kitchen at the rear to a now private garden allowing direct all-day sunlight, where neighbours houses are unseen," explained the architecture studio.

An exposed brick wall that was maintained from the original house purposefully features in the renovation and creates a rustic backdrop for 10 Fold House's sleek interiors.

Timmins + Whyte designed the extension's interiors to feel "considered and crafted"

Based in Collingwood, Australia, Timmins + Whyte was founded by architect Sally Timmins and building practitioner David Whyte. The firm previously added a double-height gabled extension to another Melbourne home, the Lantern House.

Other Australian homes with peaceful interior designs include a weekend beach retreat in New South Wales informed by local fisherman's cottages and a house in Kyneton with brickwork walls and lofted white ceilings.

_The photography is byPeter Bennetts. _

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#all #residential #architecture #australia #houses #melbourne #renovations #residentialextensions #australianhouses #skylights #timminswhyte

Olson Kundig's Bilgola Beach House responds to the weather with operable shutters

American firm Olson Kundig has lined the upper floor of this residence next to Sydney's Bilgola Beach with louvred shutters that fold upwards to expose the living spaces to fresh air and sea views.

The Bilgola Beach House is the first project completed in Australia by Seattle-based Olson Kundig and was designed for a couple who wanted to be able to host large family gatherings.

Bilgola Beach House is a seaside home in Sydney that was designed by Olson Kundig

Situated around 35 kilometres north of Sydney's central business district, the 873-square-metre house nestles into sand dunes overlooking the beach and the ocean.

The property features a self-contained penthouse-like wing for the permanent residents that can easily be opened up to the rest of the house when children and grandchildren come to visit.

The upper floor of the home was lined in black horizontally-slatted shutters

The design responds to its setting on a headland that is exposed to harsh sunlight, high winds and flooding.

The structure is raised above the dunes on concrete piles that allow water to pass underneath, while the retractable window screens allow the house to be sealed off in inclement weather.

"The house attempts to address the varied climatic conditions of Australia in the best way, allowing the owners to open or close it to the beachfront as the weather changes," said architect Tom Kundig.

The glass sliding doors connect the living areas with the garden and seafront views

A driveway that passes between palm trees and Norfolk pines leads towards an entrance set into a robust, board-marked concrete perimeter wall.

The entrance gate connects to a staircase leading between the house's main bedroom wing and guest wing. The concrete surfaces of these blocks reference the tone of the local sand and help the building to blend in with its natural setting.

The home has an open-plan design

A glazed front door provides a view straight through the building toward the ocean. The entrance leads directly into an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area lined with glazing on three sides.

Sliding doors can be retracted to connect this space with the garden. On the opposite side, sliding glazed panels lining an interior courtyard and pool allow cooling breezes to naturally ventilate the interior.

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A separate guest wing on the main level of the house accommodates four bedrooms, along with a children's playroom and a study.

The entirety of the upper level is occupied by the main bedroom suite, which includes a walk-in wardrobe, a reading room, and a bathroom connected to a large balcony.

Olson Kundig used materials that reference those found locally

Sliding doors lining the reading room, bedroom and bathroom can be opened to connect these spaces with the outdoors, while a bridge leads from the reading area to a terrace overlooking the beach.

The folding slatted screens that provide solar shading to the glazed elevations can be opened using a patented hinge system developed in-house by engineer Phil Turner.

The shutters provide the home with shade from the sun

The house's interior features a simple palette of pale timber and dark cabinetry, alongside textural concrete walls and floors. Externally, the concrete and blackened metal is softened by planting, including green roofs and a bamboo garden.

"My hope is that the home will grow and evolve as it responds to all the different environmental and climatic conditions of the site, hopefully blending into the headlands and becoming more integrated with Bilgola Beach over time," Kundig added.

Pale timber was used throughout the home

Olson Kundig is led by Tom Kundig, Jim Olson and four other partners, with around 200 staff employed at its office in Seattle's Pioneer Square. The firm is best known for its residential buildings but also works across private and commercial projects of all scales.

The practice recently completed a floating house in Seattle's Portage Bay that references traditional cabins and has also designed a metal-clad innovation centre on the Nike Campus in Oregon.

The photography is by Rory Gardiner.

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#all #architecture #residential #australia #sydney #shutters #australianhouses #seasidearchitectureanddesign #olsonkundigarchitects #seaviews

Conrad Architects completes marble-clad home overlooking Melbourne skyline

A roof terrace and pool with views over Melbourne's skyline feature at the Grange Residence, a marble-clad house by Australian studio Conrad Architects.

Located in the suburb of Toorak, the four-bedroom dwelling was commissioned by interior designer Lauren Tarrant, who also created the home's interiors.

Conrad Architects has completed the Grange Residence in Melbourne

Melbourne-based Conrad Architects described the Grange Residence as a "split form of minimalist stone blocks", which are clad in acid-etched marble.

Its design was informed by local planning regulations that required different elevation heights on each boundary.

The house is clad in acid-etched marble

Inside, the living spaces are organised to create an "intuitive and rhythmic journey", with a gradation from private spaces to bright, open areas with outward views via the home's central stair.

This staircase, designed as a "sculpted element suspended within the otherwise rectilinear arrangement of spaces," has been finished in polished plaster and is illuminated by a skylight.

The house is planned around a central stair illuminated by a skylight

"Much of the planning was dictated by the topography, yet we sought to accentuate the experience of entering the house, moving through it, and the view being revealed," explained the studio's founder Paul Conrad.

At the entrance, a small stair leads to the upper ground floor, immediately framing views out across a large living and dining area that opens onto a terrace with an infinity pool.

The staircase is designed with a sculptural aesthetic

"The home's entry floor level is intentionally raised to generate a sense of 'stepping up' to a lookout," explained the studio.

Below this is the lower ground floor, which contains the home's bedrooms, and the basement level that comprises a garage, gym and utility room.

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"Bedrooms are nestled below the entry level, creating a quiet sanctuary of private spaces, each opening of the landscape," added the studio.

The home's upper floors are given over to large living, dining and office spaces that open onto a pair of stepped roof terraces.

An infinity pool and roof terrace looks out over Melbourne

Bronze-coloured metal has been used for the frames and shutters of the upper-level openings and is also used to surround the rotating glazed doors that lead out onto the terraces.

Internally, concrete, stone and polished plaster have been used to create sleek and minimal spaces, complemented by pale furnishings and brass hardware.

Bronze-coloured metal frames the windows and doors

Conrad Architects is an architecture studio founded by Conrad in Melbourne in 2008. Previous projects by the studio include a Melbourne townhouse that has been divided into distinct living spaces for different times of the day.

Other marble-clad residences on Dezeen include a London house extension by Alexander Owen Architecture and Casa ZTG in Mexico by 1540 Arquitectura.

The photography is by Timothy Kaye and the styling is by Marsha Golemac.

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#residential #all #architecture #australia #houses #melbourne #marble #australianhouses #conradarchitects

Wowowa uses colourful accents to update 60s home in Melbourne

A scalloped metal roof and brightly coloured accents feature in a renovation and extension of a 1960s home in Melbourne by local architecture studio Wowowa, which has been shortlisted in the residential rebirth category of Dezeen Awards 2021.

Designed to express the client's own personal aesthetic the renovation, called Pony, adds four new bedrooms and two bathrooms to the existing single-storey home.

The layout was also reconfigured to improve the relationship to the garden.

Top: Wowowa renovated and extended a 1960s home in Melbourne. Above: the exterior of the home was clad in glazed bricks

"The plan was arranged along a double-axis – a prominent post-war design driver to increase connection to the garden, creating a front, back and central courtyard," explained the Wowowa.

"Our design exaggerated the existing axial plan through a clip-on colonnade."

This "clip-on colonnade" extends the axis along the rear of the home and is defined by a run of glazed brick columns framing large windows, creating a bright corridor space that connects a new strip of children's bedrooms.

Wowowa added four new bedrooms and two bathrooms to the single-storey structure

Above, the scalloped roof structure is expressed internally by a wooden ceiling that sweeps "like the belly of a whale" above this new corridor, referencing the construction of boats.

"The structural design, cladding and construction methodology for the roof form was not dissimilar to the construction of a boat, with a keel, bow and stern," said the practice.

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Moving the children's bedrooms to this wing freed up space within the original footprint, which now contains a large en-suite main bedroom to the south alongside a new sitting area, connecting via the entry hall to a large kitchen, living and dining area.

Designed to be the heart of the home, this central space is organised around a bright yellow table and counters, with a "desert inspired" colour palette expressed through terrazzo splash backs and pastel pink cabinets.

"Reflecting their personal aesthetic through form, materiality and colour, the interiors are an accretion of small moments of delight that allow a family to find a quiet moment alone or come together," described the practice.

Colourful accents were added to the home including pale pink and yellow cabinetry

Sliding doors to the north connect to a new courtyard created by the extension, allowing the living and dining areas to open out onto an area of raised decking.

"Each axis has the capacity to be closed from the next, allowing a separation of the noisy living spaces from quiet adult areas and children's study zones," it continued.

The ceiling has an undulating form that follows the shape of the scalloped roof

The colourful accents in the kitchen extend into the new bedrooms, where pinks and yellows have been used to finish doors and furniture.

Previous projects by Wowowa include a home in Melbourne with cylindrical brick turrets and copper cladding, designed to reference agricultural buildings.

Other projects shortlisted in the residential rebirth category of the 2021 Dezeen Awards include Šilta Šiauré's charred timber clad block of holiday apartments and Matt Gibson's renovation and restoration of a Melbourne home.

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#residential #all #architecture #instagram #australia #melbourne #renovations #residentialextensions #australianhouses #wowowa

Matt Gibson transforms Melbourne home with courtyards and glazed bridge

Australian practice Matt Gibson Architecture + Design has restored and extended a historic home in the suburbs of Melbourne, which has been shortlisted in the residential rebirth category of Dezeen Awards 2021.

Located in the South Fitzroy Heritage Precinct, the home's historic Victorian frontage was retained, while its rear has been completely transformed. The local practice split it into three pavilions separated by planted courtyards and linked by a glazed bridge.

"As opposed to providing a newly-attached, contrasting addition (an oft supported heritage approach), the resultant conversion is instead set out as a series of separate, similar mews-like outbuildings separated by courtyards," explained Matt Gibson Architecture + Design.

Top: Matt Gibson added a bridge above the courtyard that connects bedrooms. Above: Fitzroy Bridge House has a white painted brick exterior

The historic front of Fitzroy Bridge House has been preserved and restored to contain living and dining rooms, which connect across a large courtyard to a kitchen and a family room via a glazed corridor.

Above, these two blocks house bedrooms and bathrooms, linked by a bridge that crosses above the courtyard. A thin, low strip of glass provides views out while minimising the risk of overheating due to its southern orientation.

Pavilion-style structures surround the home

At the western end of the home, a third, more independent block sits at the other side of a second courtyard. This houses a garage and studio at ground-floor level, and a study that can be converted into an additional bedroom above.

"The series of buildings house sleeping quarters above, with a linked open, 'living' breezeway beneath containing flexible living spaces that straddle two landscaped courtyards," said the practice.

These new pavilion-style structures were built using bricks recovered from the original home, which have been painted white throughout and are contrasted by black metal window frames in the courtyard's walkway.

The white bricks define the building's street-facing northern elevation, with the rising and lowering of the wall expressing the home's blocks and courtyards.

The bridge spans the courtyard above a pond and irregularly-shaped stone slabs

For the rear facade, the black-painted heritage frontage is contrasted by the recovered white brickwork, with thin arched windows and a large, slatted wooden door to the garage

"When seen from the public realm of Little Napier Street the three buildings are viewed in combination, unified by their material lustre, colour and solidity," said the practice.

The interior of the home has a paired back minimal look

The interiors combine new finishes with those of the original house that were required to be maintained, all treated to create a feeling of openness across the ground floor.

Pale timber panelling and white wall finishes work with flexible layouts, intended to increase the ability for "opening up" or "shutting down" the home from its courtyards. Pale curtains in the glazed walkway offer a looser way of enclosing the space.

Matt Gibson Architecture + Design has previously completed several conversions of heritage properties in Australia, including a redbrick extension with glazed undercroft in Melbourne.

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#residential #all #architecture #restorations #houses #melbourne #residentialextensions #australianhouses #mattgibson

Nielsen Jenkins creates backyard extension for K&T’s Place in Brisbane

Australian studio Nielsen Jenkins has used raw timber and concrete blocks to extend a home belonging to an artist and art gallery director.

The project, called K&T's Place, involved the renovation and expansion of a modest "Queenslander" cottage in the Brisbane suburb of West End, which is undergoing significant redevelopment.

Nielsen Jenkins has renovated and expanded a cottage in Brisbane

The goal was to provide more space for the owners – artist Keith Burt and his partner, Tarragh Cunningham, who is assistant director at the Queensland Art Gallery. They live in the dwelling with their two boys.

Originally, the clients asked local firm Nielsen Jenkins to overhaul the kitchen and create new bedrooms for the children, but the project expanded in scope.

The kitchen has been renovated

"By working with them to understand the specifics of their daily routines, the brief expanded to include much more poetic ambitions that bring joy to mundane processes," the firm said.

The home started with an untraditional layout, as the ground level is occupied by a studio that occasionally doubles as a gallery for selling artwork. The upper level holds the public zone, and formerly held all of the sleeping areas.

The extension was built from raw timber and concrete blocks

The architects conceived a semi-enclosed rear extension that adjoins the ground-floor artist studio and the public area up above. Running up the centre of the extension is a masonry fireplace, which is meant to serve as an anchor point.

The new, 54-square-metre volume is surrounded by a spotted-gum wood exterior and is topped with a broad roof.

The interior of the extension has a raw aesthetic

"The semi-enclosed extension forms a series of occupiable landings, which sit under the canopy of a massive fig tree and allow flexible use and controlled connection between the living level and the artist's studio below," the team said.

On the upper level, the team relocated the kitchen, added a dressing area to the master suite, and opened up the floor's overall plan.

"Upstairs, very small interventions allow the once-insular and dark plan to work as three 'streets' of varying levels of exposure and occupation, with connection front and back to light and greenery," the team said.

"The scheme plays on ideas of public and private in the family's daily rituals and aims to celebrate small routines of preparation and retreat."

Materials throughout were left raw and understated

On the ground floor, the architects created a pair of kids' bedrooms, along with making enhancements to the studio. For instance, they added a gridded pegboard made of dowel and Masonite.

Because the project had a strict budget, the team had to keep expenses low. Materials were left raw, and minimal changes were made to the home's structural system.

The studio stands alongside the "Queenslander" cottage

"We have been able to completely change the way the house works for a relatively small square-metre rate," the architects said, noting that the project was completed for $2,200 Australian (£1,163) per square metre.

One of the benefits of the extension is that it offers privacy, the architects said, since tall buildings are popping up in the area.

The original home was also refurbished

"The arrangement of the design works to defend the everyday workings of the family from new, 16-storey neighbours to the west and predicted unit development to the south," the team said.

The firm said the project embodies its belief in honest materiality and creating memorable spatial experiences.

Wood was also used in the interior spaces

"We feel really proud of this project in this way," the team said. "We feel like it is humble but really ambitious in the way that it engages with the users and the suburb that surrounds it."

Nielsen Jenkins also recently completed a "tough" family home with lush courtyards and high block walls that provide protection from brushfires.

The photography is byShantanu Starick.

Project credits:

Architect: Nielsen Jenkins
Builder: Struss Constructions
Engineer: Optimum Structures
Landscape: Jonathan Kopinski and Nielsen Jenkins
Town planning: PLACE Design Group
Artists: Keith Burt, Anna Markey (ceramic pendant)

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#residential #all #architecture #instagram #brisbane #australia #wood #concrete #extensions #houses #australianhouses

Fox Johnston refreshes modernist SRG House in suburban Australia

Local studio Fox Johnston has renovated a heritage-listed modernist home near Sydney, stripping it back to an exposed concrete shell to create bright, open living spaces.

SRG House is a conversion of one of two semi-detached homes designed in 1972 and once the home of Australian modernist architect Sir Roy Grounds – from which it takes its name.

Fox Johnston renovated SRG House

Overlooking the Parramatta River in the Balmain suburbs, the 1970s building was based on a concept sketch by Sir Roy Grounds, which was then detailed by the architect and teacher at Sydney University, Stuart Whitelaw.

Originally a two-bedroom home with a later garage extension, the building has been transformed into a four-bedroom home for Fox Johnston director Conrad Johnston and his family.

Two additional bedrooms were added on the ground floor

The zigzagging plan of the home encloses a series of small courtyard spaces, overlooked by a grid of timber-framed windows between the pillars of the concrete structure.

"The original grid set up a powerful rhythm. How we unlocked the design is by interweaving old and new," said Johnson.

A white brick extension contains a living space and two bedrooms

The poor condition of many of the finishes required the structure to be stripped back to its concrete frame, which has been left exposed and supplemented by a new palette of materials drawing on the original 70s fittings.

The fixed glass and rotted timber frames have been replaced with cedar-framed, high-performance glass, and the external timber cladding has been replaced with heat-modified Radiate pine, with new openings in the grid creating balconies over the courtyard.

A large kitchen flows into a dining area

Improving the environmental performance of the building meant that a commercial-scale air conditioning unit on the ground floor could be removed, creating space for two new ground-floor bedrooms that look out onto the central garden space.

Above, half of the first floor is given over to a large kitchen that flows into a dining area and living room with a concertina glass door that allows it to completely open out to views of the river.

On the second floor, two large bedrooms sit at either end of the home, to the west overlooking the river with another concertina window and to the east looking onto a rooftop garden atop the new garage extension.

This extension sits atop a garage added in 1983, which has now been extended to create an additional storey of independent living spaces for Johnston's extended family, clad in contrasting white brick.

Two large bedrooms are located on the second floor

In the interiors, the rigid geometry of the home is contrasted by curved plywood elements such as a curved dining banquette, complemented by brass details.

"Working within that original geometry, we applied a softer edge in the form of curves. It's more overt in the new apartment above the garage building, and less obvious in the main house," explained Johnston.

Cork flooring has been used to add what the studio describes as a "retro texture and warmth", while the bathrooms have been finished with red Japanese finger tiles in reference to the original tiles found on the site.

The house overlooks the Parramatta River

SRG House was recently shortlisted in the house interior category of the 2021 Dezeen Awards. Shortlisted in the same category is a cave-like house embedded in a hillside overlooking the Mediterranean Sea designed by Mold Architects.

Photography is by Anson Smart Photography.

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#residential #all #architecture #australia #sydney #houses #australianhouses #modernism

Tribe Studio founder designs her own Australian weekend beach retreat

Australian firm Tribe Studio Architects has created a U-shaped, timber-clad dwelling in New South Wales that is meant to serve as an "affordable and sustainable prototype home".

The Bundeena House is located in a coastal hamlet of the same name that borders the Royal National Park. The home sits about 100 metres from Gunyah Beach.

Bundeena House is located near Gunyah Beach in New South Wales

The low-scale dwelling serves as a weekend retreat for Hannah Tribe, who founded Sydney-based Tribe Studio Architects in 2003.

While designing the home, Tribe and her team took cues from the modest fisherman cottages found in the area. Their aim was to create a holiday dwelling that embraced its context while also serving as a reproducible model.

The house features an inner courtyard

"The home doubles as a replicable architectural prototype for a sustainable holiday home that is authentic to the Australian aesthetic whilst also being cost-effective, environmentally aware and supportive of local trades," the team said.

U-shaped in plan, the houses consists of rectilinear volumes arranged around a courtyard. Instead of creating a multi-level building with views of the sea, the architect opted to keep the house at one level.

Rectilinear volumes are arranged in a U-shaped plan

"We chose not to pursue a double-storey home to capture water views, in favour of tackling the larger challenge of creating an affordable and sustainable prototype home, with potential to be recreated across a variety of environments – from beach and bush to suburban estates," the firm said.

The single level also enables Tribe and her family to continue using the home as they age, while also being suitable for visitors who may have mobility limitations.

The kitchen has an open-plan layout

The home's structure consists of a concrete slab and a modular timber frame that achieves spans of up to 5.4 metres without the use of steel.

Exterior walls are clad in white-painted timber. The front facade has no windows – a response to the street layout and the need to block glare from approaching headlights.

"While the house is conceived as a prototype kit-home, it also reflects some particularities of the site," the team said.

Inside, the home has bright rooms and a fluid layout. The public area consists of an open room for cooking, eating and lounging. Retractable walls provide a seamless connection to the outdoors.

Interior finishes are meant to be durable and honest

The private zone encompasses two adult bedrooms and a kids' room that can sleep up to six children. A built-in sofa in the lounge can be converted into a bed, enabling the home to accommodate additional guests.

Instead of a dedicated mudroom, the team put the laundry in the entrance area — creating a "deliberate sand trap for beach towels, tossed togs, wetsuits and thongs". Interior finishes are meant to be durable and honest.

A Phillipe Chemise fireplace heats the house during cooler months

Materials include laminated veneer lumber (LVL), structural plywood and Australian blackbutt wood. Concrete flooring was left unpolished so that wet and sandy footprints wouldn't be an issue.

The property's vegetation – selected by landscape architect Christopher Owen – features water-wise, indigenous plants that attract birds such as kookaburras, tawny frogmouths, cockatoos and sea eagles.

Up to six children can sleep in the kids' room

The only non-native plants are edibles in the inner courtyard, where they are protected from grazing deer. "Now the courtyard is the 'food bowl' of the house," the team said.

The home has an abundance of sustainable elements, including double-glazed windows, adjustable shading and heavy insulation.

A shaft of light in the shower room

The building is oriented to capture prevailing breezes, helping cool the interior on warm days. When temperatures drop, a Philippe Chemise fireplace is able to heat the entire home.

"Lighting is all LED," the team added. "A five kilowatt photovoltaic array, a separate solar hot water system, and provision for a future battery leans the home toward electrical self-reliance."

Concrete flooring was left unpolished to tackle wet footprints

The dwelling also has a rainwater harvesting system, with recycled water being used in toilets, the washing machine and garden irrigation.

"This house is an attempt to achieve a high level of architectural and sustainable outcomes at a low cost," said Hannah Tribe. "It is an experiment in delivering a more thoughtful kit home."

Visitors can wash off after the beach using a shower at the entrance

Tribe Studio Architects has completed a number of residential projects in Sydney and beyond, including the drastic redesign of a 1920s dwelling, and the creation of a house with a clever pulley system for bicycle storage and retrieval.

The photography is byKatherine Lu.

Project credits:

Architecture: Tribe Studio Architects
Building: Ballast Construction + George Payne
Engineering: Cantilever
Landscaping: Christopher Owen

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Nielsen Jenkins designs Brisbane home to withstand bushfires

Australian studio Nielsen Jenkins has completed a "tough" family home with lush green courtyards protected from extreme bushfires by high blockwork walls.

Mt Coot-Tha House sits on a challenging site characterised by a steep slope at the foot of Mt Coot-Tha, in the suburb Brisbane of Bardon.

Faced with the requirements of the second-highest bushfire attack level (BAL40), the local studio designed the home as a series of low, sloping units linked by a triple-height, "civic-scaled" staircase block that steps up the forested site.

Mt Coot-Tha House is located on a forested site at the foot of a mountain

"An efficient stairway axis at the scale of the gum forest runs directly into the contour, and an informal meandering path across the plan allows for functional plateaus or occupiable contours," Nielsen Jenkins explained.

This layout provides a garage at ground floor level, a large living, dining and kitchen area on the first floor and an area for the main bedrooms on the second floor.

Floors are linked by a triple-height staircase block

Due to the steepness of the slope, the first floor features a series of smaller level changes, stepping up from a living area and balcony towards a kitchen overlooked by a large internal courtyard.

"These smaller sectional shifts allow a grounded courtyard space adjacent to the living area of the house becomes a kind of 'village green' around which the rituals of daily life are lived," described the studio.

The building features a corrugated metal facade on top of a blockwork base

The sloping rooflines on each block follow the slope of the site upwards, each clad with corrugated metal atop a blockwork base.

All of these material choices, as well as those in the interior, were made in accordance with the BAL40 rating, which also necessitated that the gaps around openings be no greater than three millimetres.

"Robust and prosaic materials have been detailed in a manner which will require no maintenance moving forward, and will let the building continue to settle into the hill over time," explained Nielsen Jenkins.

Internally the exposed blockwork of the central staircase form is contrasted by white walls and wooden floors and furniture.

The kitchen overlooks a large internal courtyard

Taking advantage of the frequent changes in level, a mix of high panoramic windows, skylights and carefully-framed openings aim to capture the feeling of "leaning back" to look at the forest. The apertures are aligned with the tree trunks on the lower levels and the canopy on the upper level.

Around the perimeter of the house a series of "wet walls" have been pulled away to deal with overland water flow, doubling as small, flat courtyard areas that mimic clearings in the densely vegetated forest.

High panoramic windows allow residents to take in the forest

Mt Coot-Tha home was recently longlisted in the rural house category of this year's Dezeen Awards.

Other nominated projects include a cave-like house by Mold Architects that's embedded into a hill overlooking the Mediterranean.

The photography is byTom Ross.

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Edition Office completes black concrete home in rural Australia

Black-pigmented concrete and black timber battens have been used to create this tactile home in the village of Federal, New South Wales by Australian studio Edition Office.

The Melbourne-based firm designed Federal House to be both a peaceful sanctuary for its clients and a sculptural object dug into a slope in the hilly, forested landscape.

Edition Office has created a black concrete house

"At a distance the building is recessive, a shadow within the vast landscape," described Edition Office.

"On closer inspection, a highly textural outer skin of thick timber battens contrasts the earlier sense of a machined tectonic, allowing organic materials gestures to drive the dialogue with physical human intimacy."

It sits on a slope within a forested landscape

Drawing on the verandah typology common among Australia's colonial homesteads, a central living, dining and kitchen space is wrapped by a partially covered deck area.

This deck was designed to create a variety of different connections to the surrounding landscape.

It was lined with black timber battens that filter air, views and more direct sunlight on the western edge, and left entirely open for panoramic views to the north.

Sliding glass doors open the house to the outside

Sliding glass doors around the living spaces allow them to be completely opened to the elements or sealed off.

At the centre is a double-height garden void, illuminated by a cut in the home's roof.

"The expansion and contraction of the interior allows shifts between the intimate and the public, between immediate landscape and the expansive unfolding landscape to the north," said the studio.

Light wooden floors and tan leather furniture feature inside

Along the eastern edge of the home is the bedroom block, what the studio calls an "enclave of withdrawal, rest and solitude" containing two smaller rooms either side of a bathroom and a large en-suite bedroom with its own private terrace.

For the interiors, the dark wood and concrete are contrasted by lighter wooden floors and tan leather furniture, with custom door pulls designed to encourage a "tactile engagement" with the home.

On the lower level is a thin pool open to the landscape at one end, which cools air as it travels through the building, up the garden void into the living spaces.

This natural ventilation is supplemented with a ceiling fan for the hotter days of the year and a fireplace for winter.

On the lower level is a thin pool

Edition Office has recently completed another rural home in the Australian town of Kyneton, which also saw natural surroundings inform a textural material palette.

The photography is byBen Hosking.

Project credits:

Lead designers: Kim Bridgland, Aaron Roberts **
Landscape designer:** Florian Wild **
Structural engineer:** Westera Partners **
Builder:** SJ Reynolds Constructions

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Kyneton House by Edition Office combines brickwork walls with lofted white ceilings

Architecture studio Edition Office has completed a house in the town of Kyneton, Australia, featuring angled ceilings and a palette of textural materials chosen to complement its natural surroundings.

Melbourne-based Edition Office was asked to design a new home for a couple who had chosen to downsize from a much larger rural property.

Above: Edition Office has completed a house in Kyneton. Top image: it features a palette of textural materials

Kyneton House is positioned at the centre of its plot to maximise the surrounding garden, which is planted with trees relocated from the clients' previous home.

The building is oriented to align with the site boundaries on all sides, ensuring straightforward access to the garden and views of the entire site from within.

The property's external envelope combines brick-clad walls with large glazed elements, including sliding doors that open the living spaces up to the outdoors.

It has a pyramidal roof made from corrugated steel

The brick surfaces define the edges of the house as well as the individual rooms. Each element extends inwards to create recesses that enclose functional elements such as the kitchen, study and seating areas.

The pale recycled brick was chosen to reflect the natural tones and textures of the surrounding countryside, as well as the materiality of the town's buildings, which date back to 1850.

Walls are clad in pale recycled brick

The building is topped with a pyramidal roof made from corrugated galvanised steel. Internally, the roof form creates a soaring volume above a datum created by the brick walls and joinery.

"Each room is defined by its own lofted ceiling which creates a sense of inner spatial balance to the continuous framed views to the surrounding gardens," the studio explained.

"These crisp, white ceiling volumes pick up the fluctuating levels of natural daylight, providing the home with a very particular sense of softness in the quality of the light," it added.

A triangular skylight positioned at the peak of the roof above the hall allows natural light to reach the centre of the plan.

Suspended light fixtures accentuate the height of its ceilings

Suspended light fixtures, including a linear pendant above the kitchen island, accentuate the sense of height within the living areas.

The house's interior palette features natural materials and textural surfaces intended to enhance the sense of connection with the outdoors and to reflect the changing seasons.

Tactile surfaces were used throughout the home

"Our ambition for the house is for it to act as a reference point to the passing of time," the studio added. "The internal rooms act as vessels for the changes of light, becoming a canvas for the theatre of change occurring outside."

The recycled brick walls are complemented by concrete floors and wooden surfaces that contrast with the crisp, white lines of the folded ceiling voids.

Brick is teamed with concrete floors and wooden surfaces

Edition Office was named Dezeen's Emerging architect of the year in 2019 for its work and research that foregrounds stories and relationships, whilst investigating material and spatial practice.

The studio's previous projects include a cylindrical wooden pavilion for the National Gallery of Victoria and the refurbishment of a Melbourne apartment that includes full-height curving storage volumes.

The photography is byBen Hosking.

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Austin Maynard Architects completes Terracotta House in Melbourne

Terracotta tiles and reclaimed bricks clad the walls and roofs of this house in an inner suburb of Melbourne, which Austin Maynard Architects designed for a keen gardener.

The owner of Terracotta House approached Austin Maynard Architects to help her create independent homes on a shared lot for herself and her son's family.

Top: the home is comprised of three volumes. Above: it is accessed via an alleyway

Located in the Fitzroy area of Melbourne, the site consisted of a cottage and a garden large enough to accommodate a second property along with a shared library pavilion.

The project involved renovating the existing street-facing cottage where the son's family now live, as well as building a new house for the client with independent access to a laneway at the rear of the site.

Terracotta tiles and recycled brick were used for the facade

In between the two buildings is a shared, productive garden that was a key element of the brief. This space also houses a library building that can be used for guest accommodation.

"Terracotta House is, essentially, a communal-living family 'compound' – akin to a village square, with the owner and her son's family living individually in homes on a shared block," said Austin Maynard Architects.

"As an architecture practice we always aim to maximise space, relate internal spaces to the garden, embrace the street and make the most of laneways," the studio added. "The site that [the client] Belinda purchased offered potential to achieve all of these ideas and more."

Two volumes are joined by a glass corridor

The existing timber-clad Victorian worker's cottage was renovated to retain its original character whilst making it better suited to modern living.

The interior was rearranged to bring the kitchen, lounge and dining areas to the front of the house so they look onto the north-facing garden and the street.

Recycled brick was used for the interiors

Internal walls were removed to improve circulation, with the new layout enhancing the connection with the front garden and verandah. A new kitchen and bathroom were installed, with private areas – including the bedrooms – moved to the rear of the house.

The library pavilion is positioned on the western boundary of the site and looks onto the shared garden. It incorporates a laundry space and toilet, along with a versatile room that is used as a library, guest room, writer's studio, music room and social area.

Terracotta tiling clads an interior wall

The new-build Terracotta House is positioned at the rear of the site and spans the entire width of the plot. It contains a kitchen, dining area, living room, bathroom and a study on the ground floor, with the main bedroom and ensuite upstairs.

The house is comprised of compact and connected volumes, planned to optimise the available outdoor space. The building's orientation and roof form maximise exposure to light and views.

The house's materiality was informed by the owner's love of gardening and the terracotta pots she used to grow plants in at her previous home.

Terracotta tiles applied to the walls and roofs appear to take on different tones throughout the day. Their colour and texture complement the reclaimed brick used for other sections of the external walls and garden planters.

Double doors lead from the library to the garden

Due to a limited budget, utilitarian features such as waterproofing details that would typically be concealed are instead left exposed and are celebrated through an unusual material treatment.

"Rather than hiding the flashings and capping, we accentuated them," the architects explained. "Like the thick outlines of a comic book, each form is captured within lines of black steel of various thicknesses, framing and accentuating the tiles and the recycled brick."

The home has a large garden at the centre

The entrance from the laneway connects to a paved corridor that leads straight through to the garden. This hallways provides a sightline through the building that links it to the street and the community.

The kitchen and dining area are positioned to one side of the corridor, with the living room on the other. Both spaces feature doors that can be opened to connect the interior with the garden.

A passsageway between the volumes leads to the gardens

Terracotta tiles and reclaimed bricks are also used inside the house, where they form part of a pared-back material palette that also includes wooden surfaces and concrete flooring.

Wallpapers designed by indigenous artists for local firm Willie Weston are used in the kitchen and lounge to provide a sophisticated and delicate contrast to the raw, exposed brickwork.

The existing home is located at the rear of the site

Melbourne-based studio Austin Maynard Architects works across residential, retail and commercial projects – adopting a conceptual approach that responds to issues such as liveability, culture, heritage and community connection.

The studio is based out of founder Andrew Maynard's home, which was renovated to create an exceptionally bright space that helps the mental well-being of its occupants.

The practice's previous projects include an extension to a residential terrace in Melbourne featuring a zig-zagging roof and a cylindrical wooden beach house in Victoria, Australia.

Photography is byDerek Swalwell.

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Cloud Architecture Studio designs "up to five bedroom" house for a family with changing needs

Fleming Park House is a home in Melbourne designed to have enough room for a family of seven, but to also feel cosy when the children have moved out.

Locally based office Cloud Architecture Studio designed the two-storey, 189-square-metre residence, bringing as much flexibility to the layout as possible.

Fleming Park House is designed to be flexible for the future

The clients are a couple with five teenage boys, so the brief from the outset was to think about how the property might be adapted as the family's needs change.

As a result, the bedroom spaces have been designed to easily serve other purposes, such as hosting guests or working from home. The design also incorporates separate entrances and moveable partitions.

Rooms open out to terraces and balconies

"At its essence, Fleming Park House is an adaptable, flexible collection of spaces capable of 'bending' to the needs of occupants into the future," said studio founder Brendan Jones.

"A lot of emphasis was placed on creating an environment that can adapt over time," he told Dezeen.

A glazed courtyard brings natural light into the main bedroom suite

This was made possible with an upside-down layout, which places living spaces on the upper levels and most of the bedroom spaces downstairs.

Out of the five possible sleeping spaces, only two are traditional bedrooms – the main bedroom suite, located towards the rear of the ground floor, and a twin room positioned just in front.

A room near the entrance can be subdivided into bedrooms, or used as a single office

A flexible space at the front of the ground floor can serve as two bedrooms, divided by a partition.

This partition can be removed when the bedrooms aren't needed, creating a sizeable home office that is conventionally located near the entrance.

This means that the clients could host business meetings without compromising their personal privacy.

The space could also be used as a single bedroom, or as a teaching space (as it did during the pandemic).

A self-contained micro apartment has its own separate entrance

The fifth bedroom is located on the upper floor, in a self-contained micro apartment. Accessed via its own external staircase, this space could host guests of all kinds – for instance, a child returning to live at home after university, an elderly relative in need of support, or an Airbnb rental.

To get the most out of this complex layout, the house incorporates various skylights and lightwells, as well as courtyards and terraces.

Family living spaces are located on the first floor

"The house required sophisticated separation and overlapping of 'public' and 'private' areas," said Jones.

"Given the living areas are on the upper floor, circulation past the private bedroom spaces on the ground floor became a key driver in planning the residence. Voids are pushed down from above and this creates a sense of space in what is really a small and efficient floor area."

The materials palette includes concrete blocks and plywood

This multilayered approach continues on the building's exterior, which incorporates various extrusions and extensions. Walls and floors protrude out to frame or shelter exterior spaces, while various "lean-tos" help to maximise glazing.

"In the same way that the box is broken down internally through the use of voids and courtyards, add-ons are employed externally to give nuance and interest to the form," said Jones.

"This ergonomic architecture of the suburban everyday elevates simple gestures through invention and practicality."

Ground-floor bathrooms are contained in lean-to extensions

The materials palette reflects the building's experimental layout and aesthetic. Jones took an industrial approach, choosing concrete blocks, steel sheets, timber and plywood, offering a balance of warmth and durability.

Many of these materials are left exposed internally, bringing a feeling of texture to the living spaces.

This arrangement helps to maximise light

"This simple palette is combined with plentiful pattern and colour to deliver a playful space for a lively family," added the architect, "whilst retaining a sense of craft and calm consistent with the building's invention and place in the world."

Other Melbourne homes seen on Dezeen include a mid-century apartment with a pistachio-green kitchen in the Brunswick neighbourhood, and Union House, a brick cottage with a steel-and-glass extension.

Photos are by Jeremy Wright Photography.

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Austin Maynard Architects wraps self-powered Garden House in white shingles

Australian studio Austin Maynard Architects has designed a multi-volume, family home in Melbourne that produces its own energy and has a white-shingled facade.

Named Garden House, the home on a narrow residential street in the inner-city suburb of Prahran, Melbourne, replaces an existing single-fronted cottage.

Austin Maynard Architects designed a sustainable four-bedroom family home that is largely hidden from the street and produces an average of kilowatt hours of energy a day.

Top: Garden House by Austin Maynard Architects. Above: the scale of the home is hidden from the street

"More than just a house, Garden House is a power station, pushing far more sustainable energy back into our shared energy grid than it uses," said Austin Maynards Architects.

"The home was designed to feel natural and connected to nature with the use of materials, whilst still being hi-tech and high performing."

The home is accessed along a recycled brick path

The only part of the home visible from the street is a pitched roof garage clad in white shingles that appears to be a modest dwelling.

However, the main home is accessed along a brick passageway beside this garage and is positioned behind the neighbouring homes on the large L-shaped plot.

The rear of the plot opens up onto a large garden

"Garden House belies its size and scale," Austin Maynards Architects. At street-view, the simple and domestic scale garage appears to be the house, in its entirety," it continued.

"Walk down the side pedestrian alleyway and the main front door opens up to reveal a much bigger property concealed within – like discovering Narnia at the end of a literal yellow brick road."

Mirrored corridors are used to distort the size of the site

To reduce the scale of the home it was broken up into four blocks "invisibly" connected by mirrored glass corridors to reflect the lush gardens and give the illusion of separate buildings set within the greenery.

The design is a mix of alternating forms. Regular square volumes built from recycled brick and pitched roof volumes clad in white, steel shingles.

A seating area at the rear of the garage overlooks the garden

"They didn't want the feeling of a big house," the studio explained.

"Instead, the bulk of the home is broken up into four distinct elements appearing as separate buildings, invisibly connected via mirrored glass corridors that reflect the deep-rooted garden."

The shingles form a snakeskin-like pattern

The rear of the garage block contains a seating area overlooking the garden with an office above.

In the main house, the largest volume contains a kitchen and dining area attached to an open plan living-dining space that opens up onto the garden and heated pool.

Austin Maynard Architects used natural materials throughout the living spaces, which have glazed walls and bi-fold doors, with the aim of visually extending the garden into the living space.

The interior has a natural material palette

The primary bedroom is located above the living space and has an ensuite and a large lounge terrace.

While the three children's bedrooms are accessed via a corridor that leads to a separate volume of the building containing play spaces and a TV room.

The living spaces have floor-to-ceiling windows

Although Garden House was designed as a self-powered house the client did not want it to be filled with complex gadgets and technology systems.

It uses an entirely electric power system that is generated from a solar panel array on its roof. The array generates an average of 100 kilowatt hours of electricity per day that is stored within two Tesla Powerwall batteries.

The home contains a 10,000-litre water tank store which is positioned under a concrete slab in the garage, while harvested water collected from rainfall is used to flush the home's toilets as well as for garden irrigation.

Volumes were designed to look like they are different buildings

The studio positioning the home on the southern side of the site so that the interior is able to maximise warming potential from the sun.

Glazed walls and concrete floors in the living space help to passively heat the home during the winter months. Its concrete slab will absorb heat from the sun and redistribute it throughout the day.

It is a self-powered home

Other homes with an eco-friendly focus include this cabin in Chile that was designed to operate off-grid, this wood-lined holiday home in Tasmania by Maguire + Devlin and this 3.3 metre home in a South African nature reserve that also runs off-grid.

Photography is by Derek Swalwell.

Project credits:

Architecture: Austin Maynard Architects
Project team: Andrew Maynard, Mark Austin, Ray Dinh
Builder: Sargant Construction
Engineer : Hive Engineering
Landscape architects: Eckersley Garden Architecture
Interior styling: Simone Haag
Building surveyor: Code Compliance
Energy consultant : Cundall

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