Project: Addition of 400sqm of living area, outdoor cabana, decking, pool and landscaping to an existing 100yo heritage cottage.

Work scope : Project management, conceptual design, working drawings, construction, interior design, landscaping

Brief: Create a large family home and spacious rear garden, low maintenance, comfortable and functional, without compromising on style.

Entertaining areas to be large and open plan with a seamless continuity to outdoor entertaining. A smooth transition required from the federation architecture at the front, giving way to a modern extension at the rear.

Design: A decision to go double storey enabled the rear garden to remain large, and for the same reason a large loft room was incorporated over the existing house.

A robust low maintenance main living area was achieved with an industrial style featuring a 6 tonne concrete kitchen bench, wide Jarrah floorboards, steelwork and Ironbark structural posts, reclaimed from the Woolloomooloo Wharf in Sydney.

Indoor-outdoor continuity was achieved using exposed steel beams flowing from the living area through to outdoors, and floorboards giving way to decking. Floor to ceiling sleek steel bifolds add to the industrial look, and allow the entire rear of the house to be opened to bring the outside in.

At the front elevation the new faithfully followed the old, the transition from old to new taking place internally along the course of the entrance hallway.

The rear garden flows from the house, a decking walkway connecting the house to the cabana, giving way to the pool and raised spa with waterfall. Tucked in beside the pool a kid’s cubby screens a covered storage and work area.