Oatley Vacation

A fresh and vibrant architectural home in Oatley, Sydney.

Originally our clients were thinking of getting a project home, however were unsatisfied with the current products offered. They wanted to maintain character and feel within their home, therefore the brief was focused around this. In conjunction with this home renovation, the brief also included expanding the current property to facilitate a growing family. 

Transforming this old home to meet our clients’ requirements required some key solutions. The old house was extremely hot in summer and cold in winter. To address this issue, the existing walls and roof were stripped back, and new insulation was installed under the floor and in the walls and roof. In conjunction with this, tinted double glazed windows were used throughout the home. Additionally, a new awning angled to the North allowed for warming winter sun and protected all the large format glazing from the high summer sun. Finally, to address this issue we single loaded the living area to maximise cross ventilation for natural cooling in the summer.

Another requirement that needed extra attention was the utilisation of space in the new home. We solved this by adding a garage to the front of the home which created a larger footprint for the additional bedroom. To increase the feeling of space, we capitalised on the northern aspect (to rear yard) with large format glazing to allow natural light entering the home. Additionally, in the kitchen we raked the ceiling to give volume and added 3 north facing skylights to bring in natural light over the workspace of the kitchen. This floods this area with natural light and constantly moving shadows across the walls. Finally, we installed moving walls around the living room space so that the living can be closed off from the kitchen and dining area. This enabled us to keep the house open with the desired spacious feel, however create two separate spaces when the family required.