From the architect:
This project is an extension to a pre-war character house in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington. The aim of the project was to produce a functional home extension for a young family, sensitive to its sub-tropical setting.
BRIEF
The clients had a young family and were relocating from Sydney. The brief for this house was to design a long-lasting yet flexible house for the family to grow in. The clients also wanted to maintain the house’s ‘Queenslander’ character.
RESPONSE
The existing home was in a state of disrepair, so a fair bit of rebuilding was required. However, the layout and its central corridor was maintained, as well as the street-facing verandah. Extensive work went into the levels on the house to maintain the low-set proportions from the street without compromising the functionality of a contemporary home. Post-war additions to the home were also removed to make way for the new additions.
Another issue was the fact that the house was situated on a steep site. This made it quite difficult to achieve the ground floor indoor/outdoor connection afforded to a flat site. As a result, this house incorporates a series of verandahs (five to be exact) all catering for different orientations, breezes, vistas and functions to increase the outdoor relationships essential to sub-tropical living. The new portion of the house also features a 10m long northern skylight to help natural light penetrate into the core of the dwelling.
