Window, window, window | PANOV—SCOTT
An early project of Panov—Scott, designed in 2014, for immediate family and crafted with love over many years. The exigent project required great architectural economy, but allowed an engagement over time in which integration of landscape and built form could enrich the experience of the other.
The project called for three additional rooms and a new entrance stair, to an existing house by the beach for extended family and guests. The works are largely under the footprint of the existing house, so as to minimally impact the surrounding landscape.
Over the years these three small rooms in addition to the existing house have become emblematic for us of the act of doing very little. A low-resolution architecture that eschews virtuosic technical making but nonetheless enables heightened experience and facilitates an enduring connection with country.
HOGAN HOUSE | SDA
Discover Hogan House, where heritage meets contemporary elegance in the heart of Hamilton. This project seamlessly merges the original character of a former shop front with a modern rear extension, preserving the area’s rich history while embracing future living. Crafted by an owner-builder, the home showcases adaptive reuse of original materials, blending old and new with finesse. From the preserved brick structure to the bespoke furniture made from reclaimed roof beams and copper gutters, every detail reflects a commitment to authenticity and innovation. Lightwells and strategic windows flood the space with natural light, enhancing the connection between indoors and outdoors. With a well-organised layout catering to family needs, including interconnected living spaces and a serene courtyard with a pool, Hogan House is a testament to collaborative design and sustainable living. Experience a home where craftsmanship and creativity converge to create a unique, personalised sanctuary.
Kempster Road Guesthouse | EJE
Takamuna is an aboriginal term meaning ‘House on a Hill’. This site provides great views across Merewether and the Pacific.
The guesthouse has been carefully placed at the northern end of the property, below the existing garage to have a low impact on the existing residence.
Allowing for a generous shaded outdoor space a timber pergola on the north-eastern side of the Takamuna residence has been arranged to work geometrically with all different building orientations.
The contemporary style of the guesthouse including sandstone plinth, timber structures, high level glazing and floating low-pitched skillion roof, evokes the notion of longevity like the character of the existing residence.
The aesthetic of the guesthouse with natural and warm materials tried to create a well-articulated texture of great sensibility to its environment. The play between existing architectural elements and a contemporary Australian style, expressed in materiality and form provides its own layer of history.
Stockton Link House | Sarah Truscott Architect
Stockton Link House is a considered interface of history and modern design. Stockton has a rich history, evolving from being a refuge for shipwrecked convicts into a vibrant working-class community. The design of Stockton Link House honours this heritage, preserving the original worker’s cottage and integrating it with a contemporary extension.
Key design features include an honesty in materials and construction approach aligned with the budget, with nods to the owner’s unique style. The central breezeway provides passive cooling, addressing the challenge of the site’s alignment and proximity to neighbouring residences. The renovation replaced decaying materials and addressed spatial deficiencies, creating a comfortable, single-level layout for ageing in place. There are vibrant orange accents throughout and new openings were strategically placed for breezes and light.
Stockton Link House exemplifies how architecture can blend past with present, meet tight budget constraints, and enrich the cultural fabric of a community.
Yukari House | Tanev Muir Architects
A balanced renovation kindles additional amenity with site connectivity – enabling a stronger weave between the sense of place and the comforts of belonging. In Yukari House, local natural materiality and craftmanship connect with rhythmic and site intentional detailing. The result is a home which focuses on enhancing social relationships and compliments the experience of the surrounding country, inspiring a good yarn
Project 465 | Robertson Collectif
The brief for this rural retreat was that it needed to work equally well when the retired couple who own the property were on their own, as when they were hosting all eighteen of their children and grandchildren for extended family gatherings.
The concrete slab, structural framework and parts of the roof of an existing homestead were retained and added to, creating a sprawling seven bedroom residence with resort-style amenity. At the heart of the home, the ‘great room’ incorporates an open gable roof form and generous kitchen, living and dining areas that spill onto a terrace overlooking the surrounding bush landscape and valley. Adjacent, two more modestly scaled rooms provide an intimate living zone for the couple to enjoy when staying at the property alone.
Sitting within the highest risk bushfire zone, the design required that all new construction, materials, fixtures and fittings comply with strict BAL flame-zone requirements.
House in Narrawallee | Architect George
House in Narrawallee is a post-and-beam platform home perched on stilts, which sits lightly on the sloping land beneath. The brief was to imaginatively reinvent the beachcomber style home to accommodate extended family trips down the coast from Sydney, but without losing the home or surrounding area’s charm.
Kassia St Clair’s The Secret Lives of Colour was a starting point for our investigation into a playful, yet contextual, use of colour. St Clair unpacks the historical and cultural differences between various tones of the same colour. During several visits to the site and its surrounding context, we gathered fallen branches and leaves in unexpected and various hues which formed the inspiration for a series of rooms soaked in colour.
Dingo House | Source Architects
For Dingo House we worked with our client to purchase and relocate a historic Queenslander onto their beautiful property outside Mullumbimby. Starting its new life cut in two with roofs removed, the structure was transported by truck and reassembled on its new site as the new managers residence for a new sustainable farming initiative.
The existing cottage was restored and a new level was created under the old Queenslander that allowed the original cottage to read as a single level structure from the entry. The new lower level is clad in salvaged galvanised iron and deliberately speaks to rural houses of the area that have been developed in stages over time.
The recycling of the of the existing cottage, when coupled with onsite PV Systems, water storage and the landscape regeneration work being undertaken by the owners, represents a wonderfully sustainable approach to building and caring for the land.
Villa Rotunda | WOWOWA Architecture
Sited within Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country, Villa Rotunda takes its Italian namesake from Villa La Rotonda a romantic architectural icon enmeshed with an Australianness thats both bastardised and humble the WOWOWA way.
So, when the practice was asked to renovate a latticed Victorian era county cottage and former Romsey Schoolhouse, it seemed only fitting to lionise the treasured rotunda folly in Edinburgh Gardens of the same colonial lineage. This typology mash up invites and distorts the visual language of both rendering them decidedly Australian and not European. Our rotunda walls wouldn’t be painted stucco but rammed earth with ingredients from the local quarry and locally sourced internal timbers and materials. The creamy clay matches the original yellowy weatherboards with the trimmings of each structure establishing the internal colour pallet, that would embellish this tree change residence beautiful mints, greens &, rusts.
Wisteria | Carter Williamson Architects
Wisteria is a dramatic timber expression of minimalism, simplicity, and purity. A contemporary addition to a fully restored Federation bungalow in Sydney’s inner west, its bright new volume soaks up the sunshine and fosters a deep connection with the outdoors.
A light, airy pavilion is rhythmically expressed in Victorian ash. Within, a double-height void opens up the living space to sunlight and air, deepening the links between each level. A fireplace divides the open-plan living, kitchen, and dining spaces, which flow serenely onto the east-facing deck covered by a wisteria-clad pergola that frames the garden view. This carefully organised plan maintains a bright, lofty spatial quality that offers endless potential for informal interaction within defined spaces.
Rhythmic brickwork, polished concrete, timber framing, and eye-catching moments expressed in steel and marble represent a palette of material and visual simplicity; a clean, sophisticated interior that feels warm, bright, and calm.
