Perched House
Laneway House
A series of lean-tos were removed from the rear of the house, and a new living pavilion inserted across the full site width, opening generously to the terraced rear garden. The pavilion anchors a first floor addition of bedrooms, master suite and balcony, while downstairs, the original front rooms are reconfigured as a teenager’s domain with bedroom, bathroom and study huddled together.
Unlocking valuable extra space, the entry was reoriented onto the side laneway and the long corridor dissolved to expand existing rooms and curate an arrival experience via a steel-framed portal that marks the juncture between old and new.
The pavilion is camouflaged into the fence line at street level with a slim clerestory window peaking above, while the first floor addition reads as two distinct objects, fringed with tiny roof gardens. Peeled back around the entry courtyard, the new bedrooms under gabled roofs are conceived as timber lanterns, drawing in daylight and at night, emitting a warm glow through their charred cedar screens.
Inside, concrete floors are warmed with LVL pine beams and a velvety finish on brickwork and walls. External timber is durable Accoya wood, while the entry portal, its mesh screen door and all guttering is custom made in galvanised steel.
Strategic design has added less than 100 square metres of space, yet completely transformed the experience of living here, bringing sun, sky and garden outlooks inside for the first time. Robust materials will ensure its longevity, while its harnessing of natural light and ventilation helps heat and cool the house year-round without the need for air-conditioning.
Highlands House
Hills Residence
Victorian Terrace
A Victorian Terrace house with poorly organised rooms over five levels was re-imagined to become a home of reception and containment, comfort and serenity, sanctuary and a deep connection with nature.
Vertical circulation was reworked to direct entry towards an arrival respite, a place to pause, sit and welcome guests. From the street entry the home’s levels are simplified into 2 zones; downstairs to kitchen, dining and lounge areas with access to the rear courtyard and pool; up takes you to the more private quarters, an intimate second lounge come study, and the bedroom levels.
Kitchen and dining connect directly with the rear courtyard via a sundeck overlooking the pool, which flows to a second terrace lounge built on the garage roof.
Natural lime plaster, soft textured granite, and oak boards, and are woven into the inner fabric of the home. Raw steel, and further use of oak are worked and crafted into objects, furnishings, fixtures and fittings. Each space is designed to nourish the soul, with consideration to light, shade, proportion and materiality.
F E I T Handmade Shoes
JGDW employed traditional building methods and raw materials to create an environment that speaks to the core philosophy of FEIT.
Our approach to designing this intimate space was that of restraint and celebration. Thus ensuring the simply crafted items within to hold centre stage.
Birch plywood benches and platforms; sometimes seat, sometimes display, rest on an exposed concrete floor. Unadorned walls are skimmed with a traditional natural lime plaster, a soft muted texture in reference to the raw leather goods inside.
All storage is incorporated within the space of this small store. The rear walls of the upper level house a grid of raw metal pigeon holes, accommodating a variety of boxed and unboxed items.
Lighting is functional and understated. Unobtrusive cylinder lights peek below the ceiling line to direct the focus, whilst a Japanese washi paper lamp by Isamu Noguchi provides a warm lantern glow in the corner.
Courtyard House
House in the Trees
KMYOGA
The client wanted a sanctuary for yoga and meditation, encompassing a small retail component in a generic commercial building between two busy streets. Design challenges included: the entry off a bland commercial lobby, the ubiquitous office lighting, and a courtyard overlooked by offices and apartments.
To focus attention away from the commercial context, the space was lined with a cocoon of aromatic timbers, borrowing from Japanese and Scandinavian spa design – where walls and ceilings are cedar or birch. The cocooning effect begins at the threshold.
The floor is birch plywood. Walls and ceilings are lined with battens of western red cedar, unifying the space and concealing pipelines to air-conditioning, sprinklers and lighting. A tall spine of timber cabinetry with sliding battened doors screens out the office lobby and stores yoga mats, cushions and props. Battening skips over the windows to Oxford Street to diffuse light and screen out the street, while the courtyard has become a sheltered oasis with timber-decked terraces and mature trees.
Coastal Semi
A typical semi layout of dark rooms poorly organised was re-engineered to become a home of arrivals and transitions, comfort and containment, serenity and a sense of nature.
Its terraced front garden of flowering natives steps up to an entry platform that doubles as a sunset deck. Inside, the ‘boot room’ begins the sensory journey – its coir carpet invites ‘shoes off’ to feel floors of timber and concrete further on. A spine of plywood joinery along the party wall baffles sound and stores everyday ‘stuff’. Bay windows in original front bedrooms pop into a side path for little nooks of light. Upstairs in the master suite, ocean views are filtered and framed for privacy.
Landscape is woven into the building, from the first-floor roof garden, to the living room courtyard that funnels light and nature (a coastal tea tree) into the core of the house. A small rear lawn and view of the barn-like garage/studio is framed by a concrete plinth that doubles as both step and seat for the sun-bathed sunken lounge.
Nothing is painted externally – the cedar cladding will silver in the sun, while the wattles, bottlebrush and banksia flourish.