Terrace House | Akin Atelier

Terrace House | Akin Atelier | Photographer: Tim Salisbury

2026 National Architecture Awards Program

Terrace House | Akin Atelier

Traditional Land Owners

Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

Year
2026
Chapter

New South Wales

Category
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Builder
Robert Plumb Build
Photographer
Tim Salisbury
Media summary

Terrace House is an alterations and additions project in Surry Hills that reimagines the Victorian terrace through narrative rather than restoration. Having lost much of its original character through ad-hoc alterations, the house presented an opportunity to approach the renovation with a more speculative lens.

The design centres on the idea of the home as a former creative share-house. The interior is conceived as a layered archive of past occupants — ceramicists, musicians, artists and craftspeople —and what each occupant may have left behind, each imbued with a story. Sitting at the core of the home, a continuous staircase becomes a spatial thread, drawing movement across the three levels.

The traditional approach to terrace renovations of maximising light in was in some ways eschewed for a more inward-looking atmosphere – the restrained white street-facing façade conceals a sequence of atmospheric interiors, balancing nostalgia with the spatial priorities of contemporary inner-city living.

Project Practice Team

Kelvin Ho, Project Director
Ben Feher, Project Architect

Project Consultant and Construction Team

Dangar Barin Smith, Landscape Consultant
Partridge, Engineer
Bligh Tanmer, Structural Engineer
Weir Phillips, Heritage Consultant
GSA, Town Planner

Connect with Akin Atelier

This form is now closed.