Project Description Built on an exposed and elevated east/west oriented site on the western slope of Bellevue Hill, this house was designed for a Sydney lifestyle oriented to the outdoors and city views. The design grew from trying to retain the 1930’s cottage by building a new bedroom wing along the southern side of the site forming two outdoor spaces . However the cost of retaining the old house far out weighed any benefit to the overall project. The “H” shaped plan form grew from the original design by flipping the bedroom wing to the shadowed northern edge of the site and arranging the living spaces along the sunnier southern edge of the site. The “H” shaped plan forms two courtyard spaces. The larger eastern courtyard is protected from the colder western winds allowing a protected and private outdoor living space with a small pool as an extension to this space. The smaller western courtyard, in contrast, opens to the view and flows out to an small stepped amphitheatre for quiet contemplation of the western view over the city skyline and to connect to the front garden. The central dining room opens up on both sides allowing the courtyard spaces and sense of

the view beyond to flow through the entire house. The design is deliberately contemporary and open catering for a close family lifestyle. Sliding and bifold glass walls around the courtyards open up the entire interior to the contained exterior spaces making what is a modestly sized house to feel larger and more spacious. Outdoor space in Sydney’s climate is usable for most of the year, which is maximised in this house. The plan is reinforced by the form and materials of the house with the two side wings having raked monopitched roofs with highlights along each side to allow good internal light and maximum cross ventilation and focusing the space on the central space. Burnished steel trowelled concrete paving extends inside the house as passageways around the courtyards. Living areas and bedrooms have warmer timber flooring. Materials are kept simple with off-white concrete and steel gum timber floors, white painted plasterboard to walls and ceilings and Blackbutt veneered joinery with insets and highlights of Calacutta marble. Rendered masonry walls surround the house and form garden terraces, with corrugated Colorbond to the roof.