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Location: West End, Brisbane 

Awards

  • AIA Queensland Architecture Awards - Regional Commendation                                           

This playful renovation dramatically transforms a modest cottage into a flexible family home, with the lower kids level also configured as a self-contained flat.  

The extent of yard is maintained by increasing the footprint of the house only marginally, while at the same time creating a new shady undercroft and rear courtyard terrace. These different garden spaces in association with the new lower semi-enclosed room have a theatrical sense to them and provide options for gathering/sitting. The extension is unabashedly different in its expression to the existing house. The ‘tower’ interlocks with the rear of the cottage, and shapes a new special light filled living space with a corner window looking back to the street. In contrast the new lower level interior speaks of our place in the tropics with dark stains and sliding translucent wall panels.

Photography: Christopher Frederick Jones

Harriet House
Harriet House
Harriet House
Harriet House
Harriet House
Harriet House
Harriet House
Harriet House
Harriet House
Harriet House
Harriet House
Harriet House

Professionals used in
Harriet House

About the
Professional

Bligh Graham Architects is a small studio based architecture practice in Samford Village, Australia. The studio’s reputation for developing sustainable, functional and responsive sub-tropical architecture has been acknowledged through many industry awards and a multitude of publications.

Established in 2002, Bligh Graham Architects is situated on the outskirts of Brisbane City primarily undertaking work throughout Brisbane, Moreton, Sunshine Coast, and Northern Rivers region. The majority of the work completed by the firm is residential in nature with aged care, cultural, interior and commercial projects also commissioned. Budgets have ranged from $100k to $20m. The practice only takes on a limited number of projects at a time to ensure a high level of service and professional delivery. 

Bligh Graham Architects believes that beyond fulfilling their function, buildings should enrich peoples everyday life, promote a sense of wellbeing and engage with our culture and landscape. Such architecture is not only functional but has a timeless warmth and richness, simplicity and humility. It is a tailored response to each client and site, resulting in highly resolved works that both engage the senses and provide efficient solutions. It is as much about the making of landscapes and gardens as it is about enclosures – of private and public worlds. 

Sustainability is a core concern that we address at all scales and phases from the initial site planning to the consideration of material selections and additional mechanical services. From the start we look to the holistic integration of passive design principles into the spatial and material logic of our designs.