A tight site that actively engages with its neighbours on the street, a restrained re-working of a 1980s apartment, a sustainable house that champions good design and a breathtaking clifftop garden that looks like it has always been there were the NSW winners in this year’s Houses Awards.
Andrew Burges Architects picked up the award for Best House Alteration under 200sqm for Bismarck House.
While many houses on such tight, urban sites seek to turn their backs on the street, this extension to a semi in Bondi celebrates it, with a kitchen window overlooking the laneway.
The jury said it “brings the domestic life of the house into direct relation with the energy and materiality of its laneway context.”
Privacy is created with a series or roof gardens and light courts, treating the house and garden as one whole site.
Sydney’s best apartment
Minimalism is king in the reworking of a 1980s apartment in Cremorne Point by Studio Plus Three that took out the Best Apartment category. White walls and pale oak joinery dominate while a reconfiguration of the kitchen opened it up to harbour views.
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It is an oasis of calm that allows the owners to impart their own personality with decoration.
The jury said “Cremorne Point Apartment is a work of intelligent, restrained design.
Its simplicity and limited palette of white walls and pale oak timber bring light and life deep into the interior of this moderately sized apartment in a way that might seem inevitable.”
Humility key to sustainable homes
Built with affordability and practicality in mind, it is hard to deny that the winner of this year’s award for Best Sustainability is also beautiful.
The modest house in Waratah in north western Newcastle was designed by Anthrosite Architects for a small, infill site using low waste materials and construction methods. It’s box-like form was designed to speed up construction and keep labour costs down.
The jury said: “Waratah Secondary House is a small, humble project that delivers something that we need to see more of in our cities.”
Garden that links the ocean to the land
The multi-award winning garden designed by Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture with Bates Landscape adds another award to the shelf, taking out Best Garden this year.
It is positioned on a cliff edge at Vaucluse. Rugged and beautiful, it seeks to be the link between the natural escarpment and the architecture of the house. Able to be appreciated from a distance, closer inspection reveals a detailed and delicate landscape using sandstone and a mix of native and exotic species to create micro ecologies.
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The jury said: “Delicate and detailed, Vaucluse Garden’s small series of landscape interventions acts to experientially ground the domestic life of the house.”
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