This project was commissioned for a young family who already lived on the site in an older building. The surrounding area had improved and had been developed over time with larger homes being built around them. The clients decided it was time to rebuild on the site to a standard that better suited the capital value of the land. The resulting 318.8 square meter home was tailored to suit their lifestyle while their children grow up and attend high school.

Taking inspiration from colonial buildings which have been added to, this house consists of two wings connected by a glass pavilion. The smaller single story wing is clad in cedar with a concrete fire place and intended to feel like the original building, while the larger two story wing is the ‘modern extension’. The glass pavilion connection continues the exterior claddings along the interior walls of each building wing to further contribute to the delineation between each wing.

Materials were salvaged and reused in the new house where possible. This includes large feature walls that are lined with the original house’s floor boards.

The house was intended to feel spacious throughout; white painted walls and full floor to ceiling windows help to achieve this. The single story wing utilises scissor trusses and light wells to the gable ends to also help create the feeling of light and space, as well as a stairwell that is two storys high plus extra height due to the skillion ceiling.

Largely typical timber framed construction methods where adhered to due to the low budget, but special attention was given to selected areas such as the recessed cedar window details, timber and concrete interior paneling, skillion ceilings and exterior louvered pergola. Due to the large volume and surface area of the building, thermal performance was given a high priority with passive solar gain and shading taken into account, along with high insulation values to all building elements. Hydraulic heatpump heating with inslab pipes and radiators ensure all rooms are sufficiently and evenly heated while being an energy efficient heating source.