Innehållsförteckning för Issue 162 February 2025 från Houses

Full disclosure: I love Brunswick Heads. I’ve been coming to the Northern Rivers for music festivals and the like since the early 2000s and “Bruns,” as its affectionately known to locals, is one of those idyllic coastal towns that has always captured my heart. Whether you’re enjoying a cold beer at the pub, jumping from the old timber bridge into the sparkling waters of Simpsons Creek at high tide or just hanging on the beach, it’s a setting in which you quickly feel at ease. Bruns is a truly magical place that, so far, has escaped overdevelopment. I’d been watching the evolution of this new house designed by Ware Architects both through social media and on my regular visits from my home in the hinterland, so I was chuffed to…

The good life of a river may depend on the perception of its music; and the preservation of some music to perceive. — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949 Fish River House is set on an east-to-north bend on what is now known as Fish River, just outside Oberon in New South Wales. It’s a river that feeds the mighty Murray-Darling Basin. It is on Gundungurra Country. Here, the story of creation is founded on a journey from Wollondilly River (south of the Blue Mountains) to the upper stretches of Fish River (more than 100 kilometres north). Fish River resonates with the stories of tens of thousands of years of history. The property on which the house stands is now under the stewardship of a multigenerational family. It’s a…

Last June, my daughter Sarah and I took a road trip. We crossed the broad sweep of the Clarence River, dropped into Maclean for some supplies, and headed out on the coast road past Taloumbi to Toumbaal Plains House. It was the first built house completed by my practice, and in 2003 it won the Australian Institute of Architects New South Wales chapter’s Wilkinson Award. The Regional Architecture Association (RAA) had recently been in touch about visiting it, so we were travelling up from Sydney to meet them. Cane fields quickly gave way to eucalypt forest and, on the final bend, near Red Cliff, the whole coast was revealed down to Sandon River. Toumbaal Plains is here, part of open and scrubby land that was once described by seafarers as…

While Australia has the dubious distinction of building the world’s largest single new houses (232 square metres on average, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2022), Sydney architect David Langston-Jones quietly bucks the trend. His latest project, a pair of two-bedroom townhouses in the back streets of Redfern, Sydney, weighs in at 80 square metres per dwelling. But this compact footprint is not a compromise, it’s all about doing more with less. Replacing an asbestos-riddled bungalow no longer fit for purpose, the townhouses are tough as nails, intricate as origami. The dwellings front a narrow laneway containing everything from open carports and rusty garage doors to a four-storey apartment block. The tiny, sloping site (155 square metres) is impinged on or overlooked from all directions, with the added…

Find more residential products: architectureau.com/products 01 Vulcan timber from Abodo Abodo’s Vulcan timber range uses FSC-certified New Zealand Radiata pine, which is thermally modified for enhanced performance. The range offers a variety of pre-coated colours for customisation. Project: House on the Bay by Lovell Burton. Photograph: Rory Gardiner. abodo.com.au 02 Bowral Bricks from Brickworks The humble and versatile brick was transformed into spectacle in Ponds, a scalloped addition to an Art Deco house. WOWOWA Architecture used four shades of dry-pressed Bowral Bricks to acheive a striking gradient pattern. Photograph: Martina Gemmola. brickworks.com.au 03 Patio skylights from Velux Adding skylights to an alfresco dining area maximises the space’s usability, providing shelter from rain without limiting access to natural light. Velux’s diverse product range offers solutions for both new builds and existing…

Ioppolo, a three-storey tower, anchors itself in the rear corner of an inner-city Boorloo/ Perth backyard. As architects Katherine Ashe and Marco Vittino describe it, “Its footings are cemented in the stories of resistance and resilience of past residents, engaging the post-colonial and migrant histories of the area as well as paying homage to ‘Hiawatha,’ the ornate heritage house which occupies most of this generous residential lot.” As you ascend, the small tower becomes more introverted in nature and the outside world becomes slightly less present. When you reach the top level, the depth of humility and meaningful attentiveness to detail in this project become clear. It was here that I asked the owners, Tanya and Mark, “What word encapsulates this project’s significance for you both and for your family?”…

It’s a bluebird sky with a warm northerly breeze. Tourists are perched at St Helena Lookout taking in the views over Cavanbah/Byron Bay. Lighthouse to the east, Bundjalung Country extending to the north. The afternoon ambles by while, nearby, the silhouette of the house known as Mango Lane by DFJ Architects makes itself known among its dense natural surroundings. The home unfolds in an elongated, open L-shape that embraces the natural slope of the site and an existing poinciana tree, whose canopy shields the structure from the western sun. The plan is divided into two main volumes connected by a sheltered external walkway. The house is primarily configured as a one-bedroom home with an office and open living spaces, but its secondary wing offers expanded accommodation for extended family and…

On Christmas Day 2015, a fierce bushfire swept through a section of Victoria’s Great Ocean Road, devastating the coastal towns and settlements of Wye River, Separation Creek, Kennett River and Grey River. The blaze claimed 116 homes – a mix of holiday retreats and permanent residences – between Lorne and Apollo Bay. Many of the lost structures, built in the 1950s and ’60s, featured simple timber construction methods that contributed to the town’s modest charm and character. Matt Goodman, director of Matt Goodman Architecture Office (MGAO), has a deep-rooted connection to Wye River. Matt and his family have been regular visitors to this special place for the past decade, and they were present the weekend before the fire. In the aftermath, Matt’s immediate response was to help the community. His…

Reversing the notion that too much corridor is a waste of space, Multiplicity has explored the possibilities of turning the prosaic circulation space into delightful halls that hum with domestic occupation. The studio’s additions to a double-fronted Victorian house in Geelong plays with the conventional organisation of rooms to craft a house that is gradually revealed, with all spaces unfurling out, up and down from its central corridor. In the entry hall, some of the home’s original doors have been removed and their frames retained as memories, affording a moment of arrival to hang one’s coat on a delicately crafted rack. Stepping through to the new additions, the space immediately widens to a music hall, with record library to one side and a turntable stand and an elevated bench seat…

Often, when you hear the history of a residential commission, it is the stories of the relationships that have grown between architect and client that stay with you. The Harris House, built between 1972 and 1977, is one such house, brought into being by a young and relatively unknown architect named Nicholas Griffin and his clients and friends, Ian and Laurel Harris. Thoughtfully designed and beautifully preserved in the intervening four decades, the house itself demonstrates how well the ideas of bush modernism were suited to the leafy landscaped setting of Eaglemont in Melbourne’s north. Equally, it shows what can be achieved when architect and client are united by a can-do attitude and a commitment to achieving the best possible outcome, despite modest means. Harris House is located within the…