2023: Bookend Addition
To complete our little flashback on 10 years of working on alterations and additions projects we have Bookend Addition. Kinda appropriate given its name.
This was a project of around 7 years in the making and some 20 options in the design phase. Lots of opportunities explored over the years to suit the family as life evolved. Ironically it was the first sketch that ended up being the built design. Such a great outcome, and we were delighted to receive an architecture award for our effort.
#canberraarchitect #canberraarchitecture #shousugiban
2022: Sunny Spot Addition
We are always looking to find creative ways to bring the winter sun into a house for thermal comfort and occupant enjoyment.
Sunny Spot Addition is all about craft on a budget. Less is more. Instead of a brief, the client gave me a book to read on simple living and simple life.
A question was posed - How can we transform this duplex in the most modest way and provide a family a new sanctum for being together?
We think we nailed it, and the builder certainly nailed it too.
#canberraarchitecture #canberraarchitect #simpleliving #sunroom #creativespaces
2021: Blue Sky House
We’ve done many projects with clients that were living overseas during the design and construction process. We started refining our processes of communication long before online meetings became a standard.
The Blue Sky House clients were quite simply lovely and it was a delight to work with them remotely to design this alteration and addition project. A new living and bedroom wing to the south of the existing cottage draws light and blue sky views through clerestory windows above the roofline of the existing.
#canberrasrchitecture #canberraarchitect #clerestorywindows #workingonline
2020: Reid Renovation
Working on heritage cottages has been incredibly rewarding. They were built well, but quite often have very poor thermal performance.
This cottage was appealing from the street but had an awful 70s/80s addition to the rear with awkward planning. We brought all the lovely detailing of the original cottage back to life and then completely guttered the interiors of the addition and replanned spaces to be light filled and generous. The new kitchen, dining, family space now gets northwest light and is connected to the garden.
#canberraarchitecture #canberraarchitect #heritagecottage #canberraheritage
2019: Woody Addition
The bones of this existing house were really good. However, the need for more space as the kids turned into young adults led the project brief.
The addition is designed as a self contained parents wing over four levels, connecting with the existing house through an original laundry space, which became storage, then up to a bedroom, bathroom and study, or down to a living space, and then down further to a laundry/kitchenette and out onto a covered deck with access to the garden. Clad entirely in timber, this woody insertion into the yard is a great example of low carbon energy efficient design.
#canberraarchitect #canberraarchitecture #timbercladding #hardwoodcladding #lowcarbonhousing
2018: Loft House
Loft House was a lovely addition to a Riley Newsum prefabricated cottage in O’Connor. The playful addition added a north facing living area with quiet reading loft in the roof space. The clients were such beautiful people that trusted our vision. We went on to design them a humble holiday house in northern NSW.
#canberraarchitecture #canberraarchitect #loftinterior #lofthouse
2017: Parents Room
One of the challenges we seem to always be given with alts and adds projects is finding a way to connect to the rear yard. Too many houses only have access via a laundry. Why have a yard if you can’t get to it? Reconfiguring spaces to connect to the landscape is always a priority of our work.
The brief for this house was simple. Add a quiet living space that opens onto the garden. We reworked the dining space to look through the new split level living space out into the garden. The new space has raked ceilings and carefully curated windows to make the compact space feel generous and light filled.
#canberrarchitecture #canberraarchitect
2016: Up and Down House
Starting a studio is tough. You don’t always get that one amazing project that sets you up. We enjoyed working on lots of little renovations in the beginning, and made sure we kept doing them. They are great fun and essential work. No project is too small for an architect.
This lovely little project was a small renovation of the kitchen dining area, and a small renovation to allow for a new family space and extra bedrooms. It was a very modest budget which called for modest finishes.
#canberraarchitecture #canberraarchitect #bluekitchen
2015: Clerestory House
As a retrospective of our work over the last 10 years we are picking a project a year that we loved working on, starting with alts and adds projects. The year is the completion year.
Clerestory House was our first project and we are very grateful for the clients trusting us to design their addition, a new living and bedroom wing that connected to the rear yard. It was their auntie that visited my own house on a sustainability bus tour and told them I should be their architect. We went on to help out the auntie and her two kids on their projects.
#canberraarchitecture #canberraarchitect #clerestorywindows
We take sustainability seriously and, where possible, prefer to keep existing dwellings and find creative ways to improve their performance and liveability. So it’s no surprise that 75% of our work is renovations. Alts and adds projects are a great design challenge and lead to super fun outcomes.
#canberraarchitecture #canberraarchitect #lowcarbonhousing #houserenovations #alterationsandadditions
We’ve been fortunate to get some gongs along the way. The Architecture Awards have always been a highlight as they have a rigorous jury process with highly respected architects reviewing your work. We didn’t enter every year, so 14 is something to feel proud about.
#canberraarchitecture #canberraarchitect #actarchitectureawards
In all honesty, we had no idea how much we’d achieved in the last 10 years of running a small studio on Ngunnawal country until now. The simple act of archiving some projects turned into a spreadsheet of project details that revealed a crazy number of projects built.
A massive thank you to all the clients, builders, contractors, and consultants involved in this body of work.
#canberraarchitecture #canberraarchitect
