Having occupied the existing home for a decade, our client was settled on the general ‘feel’ of the house as well as the size of the existing garden which limited possibilities of extending to the rear. Of utmost value was that the extension felt homely, unpretentious, and maintained a sense of warmth. 

The brief was to maintain the existing front rooms of the heritage house and update the heavily deteriorating building, and adapt the rear section to suit a more contemporary layout by making the space feel open; a challenge considering the extremely narrow, south facing site. The existing rear toilet and laundry isolated the living area from the garden which made for a claustrophobic feel, reminiscent of many old Victorian homes.

Our client's brief request was for the “design to be quietly clever and robust”, and the response was twofold: create a feeling of expansiveness in a south-facing home, while still creating intimate private spaces to retreat to.

The material selection is restrained, and predicated on the feeling of warmth, while the interior focus was all bout rectifying a defunct terrace typology common to the era. In resistance to contemporary open-living, lounge and dining is partitioned by a central wet zone and mezzanine sandwiched between hallways. This divides the spaces into more intimate gestures - creating separation within a seemingly open-volume. The mezzanine was made possible by terracing floor levels to increase ceiling height at the rear - seemingly luxurious, when juxtaposed by the narrowness of the property. 

The extension plays with shadow and light that traces the walls across the day, creating a timeless backdrop for everyday life.

Stylist: Jess Kneebone

Builder: Brenton Eastwood, Inner North Carpentry

Landscape Designer:

• Landscaping plan by Treespace Solutions
• Landscaping by Growing Designs

Lead Architect: Stephanie Kitingan, Director

Photography: Tom Ross