I have a south facing extension at the back of my house. I ensured that it had plenty of light by having lots of windows - all 3 external walls have windows.

A gable end roof. around 40 degrees pitch with no ceiling, gyprock underside of rafters

The triangle facing south as large amount of glass as your funds will allow

Your Funds may also dictate exposed ceiling joists, not a problem.

Room with glass doors to exterior, stacking or bi-folds

Something like this. Putting the courtyard on the east side, and the living areas with doors opening up to the north. This was an extension on a federation home near our home.

Thanks Louise. The block is 12.5m wide and 41m deep approx.

Yes it’s a side car access to the garden.

assuming some dimensions something like this with north facing family kitchen and courtyards "downstairs" from the main house and depending on your local weather and garage plans you could connect the garage and/or carport to allow direct entry through the laundry and the carport allows for a multi purpose covered outdoor area

Wow. Like this idea! Was thinking about having a glass walkway leading into the new extension, however I thought it will be costly to create external walls. However it will definitely flood the space with light.

Chris, I have a link planned for my extension. And I’ve also been lucky enough to have Oklouise draft it up. Our design combined into something fairly similar to yours. The link/walkway can be a cheaper overall. For me the reasoning was:
You don’t need to touch the roof of the old house - the link is under the eaves. I can reroof the older section in a different phase.
You avoid touching the fabric of the old building too much at all. Anytime you aim alter an existing building you have more surprises. The link concentrates the extension into mainly new build area which is easier and cheaper.
For me I won’t have to redo the whole house heating/cooling. I’ll just add a decent split system to the extension
I’m planning on living onsite during the building for you this may not be possible because you lose your kitchen. I don’t until the new one is completed.

I’m pro links.

Chris, can I suggest that when you get to a plan that is mostly what you want you:

1. Have the council come out on site for a visit to give you the preliminary nod of ok. Give them a coffee and pick their brains for any holdups in the permit process that they may predict. Yes you can read the building regs - and I have - but it can be helpful to have Council involved from the start.
2. Have a builder out for a preliminary site visit also. Offer to pay them for their time. You want to know now if there are any big things that will throw your budget out. They can’t give you an exact figure but can tell you if you’re looking at a $300k or $600k budget. I had a builder come out whilst I was still in my dreaming phase and tell me what size roughly I can afford with my budget (although prices are sky rocketed since then) and I designed to that size. I’m thrilled that oklouise was able to fit in most of my wish list - although it took us over two years of pondering to do so and the plan really only can together once the idea of a link was settled on. Good luck it’s a fun process (or maybe I’m crazy).

Thanks for the insight and feedback. Also a big thank you to @oklouise for putting together the plan idea.

Great points but I wasn’t clear to inform that the kitchen bathroom section is a add/ lean-to, possibly built around the 1950’s. That section of the house has to go because it’s pretty run down. However the front section has been fully preserved and redone eg- re-stumped, re wired etc. So the focus will be on the back end, hence why I was thinking of knocking that part down and turning it into a full kitchen/living with bathroom and laundry. Possibly going as far out as the sunroom.

Really need to get this draw up or sit with an architect.

Still love the idea of the having the hallway extend. But also open to having a huge skylights. Although I’m definitely still in the dream phase.