00:02I do feel in Australia that architecture suffers from being a little too private.
00:09In dense environments and on small sites I think it's important for our buildings
00:13to breathe and open up to the rear laneway or a park or the street.
00:19My name is Dean Williams, I'm the Director of Architect George and I live here with my partner and my
00:26dog auntie.
00:34The house is located in Newtown which is in Sydney's inner west.
00:39Newtown is a really quirky, diverse environment.
00:46There's a great sense of community in Newtown and it's a great place to live.
00:53The original house was built in the 1930s.
00:55It would have been built as a modest workers cottage providing cost effective housing for people in the Newtown area.
01:03The footprint of the home is 35 square metres and with us adding the second storey the total size of
01:10the house is just under 60 square metres.
01:13We lived in the home for about two or three years before we undertook the renovation.
01:16The key priorities for us was a house that was generous in its connections to the outdoors and to sunlight
01:23and views of the garden and the community.
01:29The building was liveable, however it was very enclosed, very small and had a series of pokey rooms.
01:36But the structure was in relatively good condition.
01:39When you walked through the front door you entered into a small living space which was completely disconnected from the
01:46rear courtyard.
01:47And then upstairs there was a small attic accessed by a pull down ladder which is where we used to
01:52sleep.
01:53Removing a few internal walls and a rear bathroom addition provided some dramatic improvements to the site.
01:59Upstairs we retained the existing loft and added two bedrooms, a bathroom and a small green roof to the back
02:07of the site.
02:11The house is in a heritage conservation area.
02:14We can't change the appearance of the street frontage so all new works are at the rear of the site,
02:20hidden from view from the front street.
02:23The entrance to the house is raised from street level and opens directly into an open plan living space.
02:30The living room is retained at the front of the home and we kept an original fireplace which was restored.
02:39The home uses engineered timber floorboards throughout in a dark brown to contrast all of the white textures of the
02:46internal living areas.
02:49The flooring continues throughout all rooms of the home to provide a seamless connection to all rooms to make the
02:55home feel larger.
02:57A new kitchen joiner is built around an original chimney breast.
03:02We specified a stone bench top for the kitchen island, the kitchen bench tops and wrapping up adds the splash
03:09back.
03:10On one side of the kitchen houses a dishwasher, sink and all of the cooking facilities.
03:17The other side under the stair houses an integrated fridge, pantry and a lot of the storage for the home.
03:24A thin stone island bench unit is located in the middle of the room to encourage a social place to
03:30gather when entertaining.
03:32From the kitchen to the dining room there's a single step in the floor level which provides this really nice
03:38delineation
03:39of the kitchen and dining functions but connects them visually.
03:43We expose the beams of the ceiling above to give the sense of extra space.
03:48It's detailed in a way to provide shelves for books and household belongings.
03:53The dining room sits adjacent to a semi-internal light well that has dense greenery planted throughout.
04:01This light well drenches the dining space and kitchen with sunlight all day long.
04:08A new, smaller concrete block bathroom was positioned in a part of the courtyard that would have been
04:14otherwise unoccupiable because of the triangular nature of the site.
04:19The bathroom is a somewhat sculptural element in the garden providing a curved mosaic shower with a glass skylight above.
04:27The roof of the bathroom is planted with greenery to grow over time and dangle down the concrete block walls
04:33and over the skylight.
04:35The curved shower is quite modest in size but it kind of wraps around you like a warm hug.
04:42Tiles were only used where needed in the bathroom.
04:45The bathroom floor tiles use beautiful green terrazzo tiles to provide a seamless floor finish that looks almost like one
04:52single slab.
04:55On the first floor the main bedroom is located at the rear of the home overlooking the courtyard and out
05:02onto a small park with a community garden.
05:06On the other side of the room we have floor to ceiling wardrobes which provides all the storage for the
05:12bedroom.
05:15There's a hidden door from the bedroom out to the new green roof.
05:19When you're lying in bed you can get this view out to the garden and to the rear part beyond.
05:26One of the key requirements of the brief from my partner was to reuse some stained glass panels from our
05:32old rear door.
05:34When the sun shines you get these beautiful coloured patterns across the wall in the bedroom.
05:40Our second bedroom is located in the old attic where we used to sleep.
05:45It's now been repurposed as a guest bedroom for family to stay with us and Alex utilises this room as
05:52a home office.
05:53The bedroom is located in the pitch of the existing room and we incorporated a new large skylight to provide
06:00access to light and ventilation to this room.
06:05We have full width storage on one side of the room which utilises the old roof space to provide a
06:12whole bunch of extra storage for the home.
06:15Our second bathroom is located on the first floor at the top of the stair.
06:20We integrated a small north facing window to provide great access to sunlight to the room all day long.
06:27The materials in this bathroom utilise the same materials as the ground floor bathroom for consistency.
06:35It's really nice to have a small courtyard in this part of Sydney in such a dense environment.
06:42Even though it has these awkward shapes and angles it provides a seamless extension of the living spaces.
06:50We repurposed an old outhouse at the back of the site as our laundry which houses a washing machine and
06:56storage for shed supplies.
07:01It was really important to upgrade and repurpose this existing house rather than demolish it.
07:07It provided a more cost effective option to provide a new family contemporary home.
07:13It's also really important to maintain our historical connection to our cities by retaining our streetscapes.
07:21We deliberately make spaces smaller if it provides more opportunities for improved access to sunlight, the outdoors and ventilation.
07:29Nothing has to be given up to live in a smaller home.
07:31We just need to readjust our thinking of what a comfortable contemporary home is, how big a bedroom needs to
07:36be or how wide a doorway should be.
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