JURY CITATION /

NSW RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE AWARD – ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS

This finely considered house achieves a generosity and breadth of space on a constrained inner city site. It has connected with its environment in an intricate and specific way - through modulation of light, breeze and views. The space is artfully crafted with the gentle rippling of the skylight over the main living areas, which renders its interior with light and softly sculpted form. The relationship of the main bedroom back to the centre of the house is handled in an intimate and measured manner providing privacy and a sense of retreat yet a careful connectedness. The courtyard provides a fluid connection between kitchen and living, both on different levels, through a skilful folding of the ground plane. The quality of finish and level of detail is exceptional. This is a calm and distinguished work.

http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms?page=15800

JURY CITATION /

NATIONAL AWARD FOR SMALL PROJECT ARCHITECTURE

Located on a busy street in a fashionable Sydney suburb, this house is half of a pair of semi-detached cottages, and part of a group of such cottages. The local council, therefore, required the retention of the street presentation. The front elevation to the original ridge line and the front two rooms remain essentially unaltered, with radical modernity beyond: a stylish and streamlined set of interiors framed by two beautifully detailed steel trusses supporting a new room and a cantilevered deck, and stabilizing existing side walls. While light-filled and crisp, the house has achieved an openness and generosity quite untypical of narrow terrace houses and semis. Colorbond ripple-iron ceilings in "surf mist" provide the soft off-white colour accent that pervades the addition. Radiata pine floors are limewashed to harmonize.

The addition includes a main level, with living areas and kitchen opening onto the cantilevered deck, which has metal screens to each side and above, enabling sunlight control and managing privacy. Above is the master bedroom, tucked back into the existing roof space, and below is a rumpus room opening into a small, neat garden. The interiors are serene, stylish and minimalist in character, assisted by the client’s selection of furniture.

The base of the rear elevation is contained between piers of retained stonework, which provides an attractive link with the adjoining semi.

This is a small and relatively inexpensive project delivered with great panache. It is so neatly resolved that one can foresee the concept multiplied as grouped town houses or home units to good effect. The project shows how architecture can deliver a maximum product at a minimum cost.

http://www.architecturemedia.com/aa/aaissue.php?issueid=200911&article=19&typeon=2

JURY CITATION /

NSW RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE AWARD - ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS

A simple, direct addition to a dark, introverted Federation semi in Mosman provides clear delineation between old and new, with the new being all white, open and light-filled. The owners' request for no columns through the undercroft necessitated a cantilevered box. The request was worthwhile with clean, clear open space to the undercover deck leading to the rear yard. Above, the necessary structural members of full-height steel trusses are well detailed, embraced and expressed. A wall of mirror in the kitchen gives the illusion of double the space and eliminates the feeling of a dark ‘back end’ of the addition. Texture is embraced with the use of a MINI ORB® ceiling, decking boards and striped sunlight from horizontal sun-shading. Much was retained and recycled. Overall, there is a resourcefulness that was necessary to meet the tight budget, which did not compromise the overall space or ambience.

http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms?page=12926

JURY CITATION /

ROBIN BOYD AWARD FOR RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE - HOUSES

Harbord is a somewhat neglected Sydney suburb, with a most glorious surf beach between two rocky headlands. The client had lived on this small 332-square-metre site for many years and loved its elevated relationship with bushland, beach and ocean.

The house is now two years old, and due to careful consideration of materials and detailing is standing up well to the marine environment. A neatly detailed palisade of weathered, recycled spotted gum fronts the street, conceals the garage and fences a garden terrace in a gentle allusion to suburban picketing. This forms a podium for the house, a somewhat Miesian pavilion with a cantilevered upper bedroom level sheltering the main living level.

The podium contains the garage, entry lobby and water storage tanks. The living level appears generous and expansive through the positioning of sliding doors which open to a level lawn (above the garage) and a cleverly integrated swimming pool, which presents all year as a beautifully tiled set of reflecting ponds. Children at play can be readily observed from the kitchen. The effective use of corner glazing opens up this level and channels diagonal views of the sea. This planning, allied with clever boundary fencing and planting screens, plays down the immediate neighbours.

The bedroom level is given a special quality by a series of slatted dark metal screens, which enable maximum glazing and outlook without compromising sun control and privacy. Interiors are stylishly fitted out, with an emphasis on glossy black and matt white finishes, and with lustrous Italian tiles enhancing the swimming pool upstand.

The design is an outstanding solution for an elevated site. It achieves a private compound, screened from the neighbours yet open and expansive towards an outdoor lawn terrace, the beach and the sea.

http://www.architecturemedia.com/aa/aaissue.php?issueid=200911&article=12&typeon=2

JURY CITATION /

NSW RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE AWARD - NEW HOUSES

The Freshwater House provides a valid alternative to the traditional beach house that is most evident in its dark colours, which are a shield from the aspect's excessive glare from sand and ocean. Slatted timber screening gives the house an uncompromisingly powerful street presence. A transparent and open mid level is sandwiched between a timber-screened lower level and an extremely simple upper-level box. The strong timber base raises the ground plane to a useful landscaped platform for outdoor living. The open mid level allows for easy reconfiguration for different uses. Apart from sliding doors, the built form is limited to service and storage rooms. Dark reflective surfaces simultaneously provide containment and abstracted reflected views. Upper-level screens are operable, transforming the strongbox shape of the upper bedroom to be completely opened or closed — for maximum privacy, a sense of enclosure, view control and, above all, climate control. When closed these make a powerful yet elegant gesture. These screens provide sustainability with their ability to change to suit the weather.

http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms?page=12926

JURY CITATION /

NSW INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE COMMENDATION

Chenchow Little's scheme has transformed this mundane developer apartment, which had few redeeming features other than glorious harbour views, into a rich but rigorous set of spaces with impeccably ordered detail.

The architects have created an integrated whole, in which details, objects and surfaces work together to create a spatial and structural logic.

The project gives an excellent example to the development industry, demonstrating how a generic apartment type can be transformed into a spatially rich, flexible and enthralling dwelling.

JURY CITATION /

NSW SINGLE HOUSING COMMENDATION

A jewel of an addition that sits respectfully beside a modest 1930s residence on a large rectangular block of land about 5,000 square metres. The block is surrounded by established evergreens. This addition incorporates an eat-in kitchen/ family room, bedroom and bathroom that create the final arm of an external courtyard that faces out on to a clay tennis court.

While there's no mimicking of the original materials or style, the mass and roof form of the new section echo that of old building and do so in an unmistakable contemporary manner. The delicate link from the old house to the new house pulls you into the garden, with minimal detailing making the line of the exterior glass disappear, heightening the openness of the link. An exquisitely detailed and considered project that has enriched the way the occupants live and enjoy their location.