New South Wales
A celebration of light and inner-city context.
Part of a row of 6 Victorian Italianate terraces with local heritage listing, Crown St Terrace sits prominently amongst the vibrant streetscape of Crown St, Surry Hills. A compact site, its shallow depth of plan provided opportunity for intervention along the site’s east-west axis; to draw in natural light and ventilation, open up to neighbouring context and incorporate new landscaped spaces.
Through subtle alterations existing spaces are restored and new living spaces defined, flooded in light and lined in handmade bricks, anchored by a rear courtyard and rooftop garden. Materiality defines a poetic contrast between old and new, harnessing the changing light along the site’s axis. From beams of eastern morning sunlight in the rear living spaces, the light shifts to the front western rooms by afternoon, where it dances across the street façade, dappled by the foliage of Crown Street’s plane trees.
The redesign of our home has opened up every part of the house to natural light, transforming the way we live. The open layout of the ground level of the house harnesses the morning sun through the kitchen and afternoon sun through the living areas, while the dark basement level is now a light filled living area we utilise all the time, for our son to play or entertaining guests. We now have access to green outdoor spaces through the introduction of the courtyard and roof garden and the renewed front steps onto Crown St…’the stoop’.
The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.
