This project, situated in an inner Canberra suburb, involved the reworking of a single level 1950s brick veneer cottage, which had been extended in the 1960s with a substantial double brick self contained flat and concrete wrap-around balcony, over a lower level garage.
The current owners had already converted the garage to a studio and built a new carport on the side of the house. The decision was made to retain the unpromising shell of the flat and garage, but radically alter its connection to the original house, the concrete wrap-around balcony and the garden.
Stage 1 included internal changes to the original cottage, demolition of a small extension to the kitchen and a new ramp connection from the existing balcony to the carport, rear garden and studio.
Stage 2 reconfigured the 1960s flat, replacing the hipped tiled roof with a much larger butterfly roof, sheltering the balcony and a lower level courtyard and lifting at the perimeter to reveal glimpses of Mount Ainslie and Black Mountain.
Internally, the single room flat was split into a sitting room and a studio which includes a book lined bay with a door at either end, built over the balcony. The addition of a second doorway from the original dining room invites a circular route, taking in the book lined hall on one side of the rooms or, in a wider circle, taking in the balcony and the book lined bay wrapping around the other sides, offering a varied experience of the house and its connection to the landscape.
Completed 2015