Architecture
Best of the Best: Alterations & Additions Under 200 Square Metres
Planning to extend? Check out these standout alterations by Houzz pros shortlisted for a major Australian award
If you’re crying out for more space but not sure how or where you’re going to put it, you’ve come to the right place. The projects in the running for the Houses Awards 2022 have just been announced, and we’ve gathered together the shortlisted entries by your favourite architects and design professionals on Houzz, which feature in the House Alterations and Additions Under 200 Square Metres category. Prepare for inspiration overload!
The brief was to embody an oasis within the metropolis. Space for contemplation, artistry, and company.
MacArthur Place is akin to an atelier, performing as a creative hub for the client. The raw palette and finishes playfully dance with the furniture and artwork. By employing restoration, the rich history unfolded, and the heritage form and function led the design.
Through client collaboration, the kitchen and bathrooms were completely reimagined while maintaining the majority of the structure and finishes to preserve what originally was.
The new floor plate entailed converting the wine cellar into an outhouse, creating a domestic urban garden.
MacArthur Place is akin to an atelier, performing as a creative hub for the client. The raw palette and finishes playfully dance with the furniture and artwork. By employing restoration, the rich history unfolded, and the heritage form and function led the design.
Through client collaboration, the kitchen and bathrooms were completely reimagined while maintaining the majority of the structure and finishes to preserve what originally was.
The new floor plate entailed converting the wine cellar into an outhouse, creating a domestic urban garden.
Designer: Mihaly Slocombe
Project: Hood House
Location: Brunswick East, Victoria
Photography: Tatjana Plitt
Designer’s notes: Hood House is a luxurious yet compact and hyper-functional home defined by an exploration of contrast: it is ornamental and restrained, subdued and lively, stately and casual, compartmental and open.
Desperate for more space? Explore the idea of extending with a local architect on Houzz
Project: Hood House
Location: Brunswick East, Victoria
Photography: Tatjana Plitt
Designer’s notes: Hood House is a luxurious yet compact and hyper-functional home defined by an exploration of contrast: it is ornamental and restrained, subdued and lively, stately and casual, compartmental and open.
Desperate for more space? Explore the idea of extending with a local architect on Houzz
Hood House is a subtle renovation almost invisible from the street, yet dramatic in its expressive qualities. An oblique view from the north-west reveals the playful zigzag of the new roof, the rippling steel hood. This is a form-making exercise that connects old to new as well as establishing spatial drama in what might otherwise have been utilitarian rooms upstairs.
This transforms the staid terrace type into something delightful. The tight confines of the site are not constraints but opportunities to introduce light from unexpected directions and with beautiful warmth.
This transforms the staid terrace type into something delightful. The tight confines of the site are not constraints but opportunities to introduce light from unexpected directions and with beautiful warmth.
Designer: Inbetween Architecture
Project: Engawa House
Location: Doncaster, Victoria
Photography: Peter Bennetts
Designer’s notes: Engawa House aims to be unapologetic in the pleasant messiness of living with things. The home is, first and foremost, a celebration of the co-existence of difference, incorporating a strategy of intricate additions and decisions to carefully reorganise the home, only where necessary.
Project: Engawa House
Location: Doncaster, Victoria
Photography: Peter Bennetts
Designer’s notes: Engawa House aims to be unapologetic in the pleasant messiness of living with things. The home is, first and foremost, a celebration of the co-existence of difference, incorporating a strategy of intricate additions and decisions to carefully reorganise the home, only where necessary.
The project sits within a small by-product site of a battle-axe lot subdivision with an additional rear covenant setback. Coupled with modest budget constraints, it was integral to be forensic in the reorganisation of the house to incorporate the client’s desire for more leisure space within an efficient footprint; to effectively make do with what was available.
The project was conducted within the mindset that the most sustainable approach was to work hard, only where necessary.
The owners are avid travellers, amassing a wide range of souvenirs over the years. In essence, the house is a celebration of their love of things: to project their authentic, everyday life proudly on display.
The project was conducted within the mindset that the most sustainable approach was to work hard, only where necessary.
The owners are avid travellers, amassing a wide range of souvenirs over the years. In essence, the house is a celebration of their love of things: to project their authentic, everyday life proudly on display.
Designer: Breathe Architecture
Project: Fireside House
Location: Brunswick, Victoria
Photography: Tom Ross
Designer’s notes: When family is everything, and pizza is close second, the result is an elegant renovation personalised for a family of four that enjoys nothing more than to share their love of cooking and entertaining, with pride of place being the figurative fireside created by the open kitchen and dining pergola.
Browse more images of beautiful Australian decks on Houzz
Project: Fireside House
Location: Brunswick, Victoria
Photography: Tom Ross
Designer’s notes: When family is everything, and pizza is close second, the result is an elegant renovation personalised for a family of four that enjoys nothing more than to share their love of cooking and entertaining, with pride of place being the figurative fireside created by the open kitchen and dining pergola.
Browse more images of beautiful Australian decks on Houzz
The existing home needed to provide more space for the family without extending the footprint too much. The design included a personalised space for each family member and of course, for Pepper the dog. To create an at-home sanctuary, the renovation needed to be quiet, calm, easy to clean with ample storage, as well as include custom display spaces for cherished photographs, heirlooms and children’s artwork.
Creating celebrated spaces for cooking and entertaining as well as living more sustainably were all at the top of the list for the client. The dining pergola with recycled red-brick pizza oven was the hero of the design.
We created a peaceful sanctuary for the busy family, one that they take great pride in.
Creating celebrated spaces for cooking and entertaining as well as living more sustainably were all at the top of the list for the client. The dining pergola with recycled red-brick pizza oven was the hero of the design.
We created a peaceful sanctuary for the busy family, one that they take great pride in.
Designer: Kart Projects | Architecture
Project: House K
Location: Northcote, Victoria
Photography: Rory Gardiner
Designer’s notes: House K is a renovation for a young family. Our client wanted a single-storey house while also wanting to retain as much of their garden as possible on a relatively small block. The design strategy was to remove an old lean-to and add a small 50-square-metre extension of connected living spaces, therefore only increasing the total footprint of the house by 30 square metres, making the most of each space by overlapping functions rather than adding a new room for each and minimising the encroachment on outdoor spaces.
Project: House K
Location: Northcote, Victoria
Photography: Rory Gardiner
Designer’s notes: House K is a renovation for a young family. Our client wanted a single-storey house while also wanting to retain as much of their garden as possible on a relatively small block. The design strategy was to remove an old lean-to and add a small 50-square-metre extension of connected living spaces, therefore only increasing the total footprint of the house by 30 square metres, making the most of each space by overlapping functions rather than adding a new room for each and minimising the encroachment on outdoor spaces.
Sited in an area of predominately single-storey weatherboard houses, the project sought to modernise and maintain the existing cottage with hints of new colour and finishes, and a bolder but restrained extension hidden behind the existing house.
The coffered ceiling spaces of the new extension reference the plan of the existing weatherboard house, creating newly defined living zones that are light-filled and multi-functional.
The coffered ceiling spaces of the new extension reference the plan of the existing weatherboard house, creating newly defined living zones that are light-filled and multi-functional.
Designer: Retallack Thompson Architects
Project: House for a Garden
Location: Darlinghurst, NSW
Photography: Ben Hosking
Designer’s notes: House for a Garden removes the rear of a Federation-era semi-detached bungalow and provides a new courtyard garden around which the new living areas are orientated.
Having previously lived in a townhouse, our client’s brief was to find a house to create a garden. The project takes the approach of providing less house, more garden.
The actual internal floorspace was only marginally increased with the design focusing on the rearrangement of rooms rather than the provision of additional ‘area’. Spatially, the requirements were simple: a place to sleep, to cook, to eat, to read and for listening to music.
Project: House for a Garden
Location: Darlinghurst, NSW
Photography: Ben Hosking
Designer’s notes: House for a Garden removes the rear of a Federation-era semi-detached bungalow and provides a new courtyard garden around which the new living areas are orientated.
Having previously lived in a townhouse, our client’s brief was to find a house to create a garden. The project takes the approach of providing less house, more garden.
The actual internal floorspace was only marginally increased with the design focusing on the rearrangement of rooms rather than the provision of additional ‘area’. Spatially, the requirements were simple: a place to sleep, to cook, to eat, to read and for listening to music.
Each space is connected to a garden of varying character. The front verandah’s brick balustrade is reshaped to provide a morning spot to enjoy the sun.
The dining room and kitchen pivot around the newly inserted central courtyard, the curving glass opening up the internal corner for visiting guests to interact with their host.
The new living room is raised above the existing floor level to accomodate the site’s flood-planning level. This provides an elevated platform bounded by the central courtyard and established planting, which was retained within the existing backyard.
A fourth garden space of stepping pavers and dracaena groves connects a service passageway along the generous north-facing side boundary.
The dining room and kitchen pivot around the newly inserted central courtyard, the curving glass opening up the internal corner for visiting guests to interact with their host.
The new living room is raised above the existing floor level to accomodate the site’s flood-planning level. This provides an elevated platform bounded by the central courtyard and established planting, which was retained within the existing backyard.
A fourth garden space of stepping pavers and dracaena groves connects a service passageway along the generous north-facing side boundary.
Designer: Smith Architects
Project: Little Black Cabin
Location: Norman Park, Queensland
Photography: Clinton Weaver
Designer’s notes: A response to place, sustainability and a desire to save the dilapidated cottage drove the brief for a couple engaged in an outdoor lifestyle.
Responding to bushfire risk and an unstable structure, the building was wrapped with a structural skeleton and charred cladding to protect it for another 100 years.
The original internal area of the cottage was 54 square metres. This project removed the portions of the structure that could not be salvaged, reducing it to 28 square metres.
Project: Little Black Cabin
Location: Norman Park, Queensland
Photography: Clinton Weaver
Designer’s notes: A response to place, sustainability and a desire to save the dilapidated cottage drove the brief for a couple engaged in an outdoor lifestyle.
Responding to bushfire risk and an unstable structure, the building was wrapped with a structural skeleton and charred cladding to protect it for another 100 years.
The original internal area of the cottage was 54 square metres. This project removed the portions of the structure that could not be salvaged, reducing it to 28 square metres.
The remaining two bedrooms were converted into a cooking and living area, sleeping space, bathroom and a laundry/store room.
Efficiency and versatility in the planning were critical to the successful function of the space. Removing circulation space around the perimeter of the bed allowed for a compact and separate sleeping space.
The externally accessed laundry again provides versatility of use and noise separation from the sleeping space.
The front living deck provides a second living space to gather around a fireplace with friends.
Efficiency and versatility in the planning were critical to the successful function of the space. Removing circulation space around the perimeter of the bed allowed for a compact and separate sleeping space.
The externally accessed laundry again provides versatility of use and noise separation from the sleeping space.
The front living deck provides a second living space to gather around a fireplace with friends.
Designer: Austin Maynard Architects
Project: Yarra Bend House
Location: Fitzroy, Victoria
Photography: Derek Swalwell
Designer’s notes: Yarra Bend House is the alteration and addition to a single-fronted terrace cottage, designed specifically in response to the owner’s forward-thinking brief, addressing the concept of ageing in place. She asked for an adaptable, long-term, low-maintenance home that was as energy-efficient as possible but, above all, “a beautiful space”.
Project: Yarra Bend House
Location: Fitzroy, Victoria
Photography: Derek Swalwell
Designer’s notes: Yarra Bend House is the alteration and addition to a single-fronted terrace cottage, designed specifically in response to the owner’s forward-thinking brief, addressing the concept of ageing in place. She asked for an adaptable, long-term, low-maintenance home that was as energy-efficient as possible but, above all, “a beautiful space”.
Our client wanted to “never have to move again,” entertain friends and neighbours, and have space for her 12-person community choir to rehearse. The house was designed specifically in response.
The upstairs level allows for flexibility of use – a large open space divided into two zones by a central bathroom ‘box’ with a south-facing bedroom and north-facing multi-purpose room. A hidden sliding door gives privacy to the bedroom without compromising the sense of volume provided by the cathedral ceiling.
At ground level, a reconfiguration of the original two front rooms allows for future single-level living.
The upstairs level allows for flexibility of use – a large open space divided into two zones by a central bathroom ‘box’ with a south-facing bedroom and north-facing multi-purpose room. A hidden sliding door gives privacy to the bedroom without compromising the sense of volume provided by the cathedral ceiling.
At ground level, a reconfiguration of the original two front rooms allows for future single-level living.
Designer: Alexander Symes Architect
Project: Pepper Tree Passive House
Location: Illawarra, NSW
Photography: Barton Taylor
Designer’s notes: Pepper Tree Passive House is an intervention to a suburban Illawarra home. This project upgraded the existing brick home’s envelope and introduced a secondary dwelling in the steep, unused rear yard, designed to be nestled within the eponymous pepper tree’s canopy and built to the passive-house standard.
Project: Pepper Tree Passive House
Location: Illawarra, NSW
Photography: Barton Taylor
Designer’s notes: Pepper Tree Passive House is an intervention to a suburban Illawarra home. This project upgraded the existing brick home’s envelope and introduced a secondary dwelling in the steep, unused rear yard, designed to be nestled within the eponymous pepper tree’s canopy and built to the passive-house standard.
Nestled into the canopy of the pepper tree, the secondary dwelling sits lightly on the steep site and elevates the natural ground via its green roofs, with the recycled shou sugi ban cladding allowing the building to blend into its environment.
The secondary dwelling provides a much-needed separate office space for the client’s growing company, as well as providing space for guests and being geared for short-stay accommodation.
The secondary dwelling provides a much-needed separate office space for the client’s growing company, as well as providing space for guests and being geared for short-stay accommodation.
Designer: John Ellway. Architect
Project: Cascade House
Location: West End, Queensland
Photography: Toby Scott
Designer’s notes: An addition to an early 1990s timber cottage that visually recedes, separated by courtyard and landscape. New areas become the more public parts of the house. It’s a place to gather for meals, games, and to connect to the ground. The verandah roof extends over cascading split levels, protecting these spaces from western sun.
As a house for a family of five, the owners’ brief was to make a little bit more room for young kids to have their own bedrooms, as well as areas to play independently on the ground, but just in sight.
Project: Cascade House
Location: West End, Queensland
Photography: Toby Scott
Designer’s notes: An addition to an early 1990s timber cottage that visually recedes, separated by courtyard and landscape. New areas become the more public parts of the house. It’s a place to gather for meals, games, and to connect to the ground. The verandah roof extends over cascading split levels, protecting these spaces from western sun.
As a house for a family of five, the owners’ brief was to make a little bit more room for young kids to have their own bedrooms, as well as areas to play independently on the ground, but just in sight.
With a four-metre level change across the site, breaking up the entry sequence into a series of split levels mediated this topography, creating spaces to pause as you move higher.
From the footpath level, where bikes and prams park, steps lead to the entry, which opens into the meals and courtyard level. Screened doors slide away into the garden, creating an uninterrupted connection to the ground.
The act of not raising a house, as is typical in Brisbane, has wider neighbourhood and streetscape benefits. The house remains connected to the street, encouraging interaction with neighbours and passive surveillance.
From the footpath level, where bikes and prams park, steps lead to the entry, which opens into the meals and courtyard level. Screened doors slide away into the garden, creating an uninterrupted connection to the ground.
The act of not raising a house, as is typical in Brisbane, has wider neighbourhood and streetscape benefits. The house remains connected to the street, encouraging interaction with neighbours and passive surveillance.
Designer: Lande Architects
Project: Malvern House
Location: Armadale, Victoria
Photography: Derek Swalwell
Designer’s notes: Malvern house has been designed for a retiring, downsizing couple learning how to do less. Key to the brief was the ability to integrate green spaces, natural light and fresh air into the home. Internal courtyards, seamless thresholds and soaring glass invites the outside in.
Sitting quietly behind the original cottage, the form of our addition is deliberately submissive in scale and simplified in detail. Our built volume at the rear is easily interpreted, but difficult to understand, in stark contrast to the original Victorian styling. Precise detailing allows the volume to be broken down into very simple and uncomplicated built elements.
Project: Malvern House
Location: Armadale, Victoria
Photography: Derek Swalwell
Designer’s notes: Malvern house has been designed for a retiring, downsizing couple learning how to do less. Key to the brief was the ability to integrate green spaces, natural light and fresh air into the home. Internal courtyards, seamless thresholds and soaring glass invites the outside in.
Sitting quietly behind the original cottage, the form of our addition is deliberately submissive in scale and simplified in detail. Our built volume at the rear is easily interpreted, but difficult to understand, in stark contrast to the original Victorian styling. Precise detailing allows the volume to be broken down into very simple and uncomplicated built elements.
Several practical aspects were tackled around the diminishing abilities of its occupants, our client. These include gentle steps allowing the use of a walking frame or the ability to construct a ramp in the future. Structural ply behind the tiles provides easy installation of grab rails in the bathroom and seamless threshold details throughout, reducing tripping hazards.
The house caters for a slower and quieter life beyond professional years. The central northern courtyard allows light to track through the spaces throughout the day. The garden and operable screens filter and dapple the light and provide variable conditions throughout the day and year.
The house caters for a slower and quieter life beyond professional years. The central northern courtyard allows light to track through the spaces throughout the day. The garden and operable screens filter and dapple the light and provide variable conditions throughout the day and year.
Designer: Benn & Penna Architects
Project: Rozelle Softwood
Location: Rozelle, NSW
Photography: Tom Ferguson
Designer’s notes: Softwood emulates a Jenga game between foundation and canopy; a sandstone plinth supporting intersecting volumes above, balancing circulation, ventilation and light within the small triangular site.
The extension outreaches its arms, both welcoming those on the street, and adding a veil of privacy, fluctuating between connection and retreat.
Project: Rozelle Softwood
Location: Rozelle, NSW
Photography: Tom Ferguson
Designer’s notes: Softwood emulates a Jenga game between foundation and canopy; a sandstone plinth supporting intersecting volumes above, balancing circulation, ventilation and light within the small triangular site.
The extension outreaches its arms, both welcoming those on the street, and adding a veil of privacy, fluctuating between connection and retreat.
A balancing act between privacy and integration, Softwood bridges the members of the family unit, while facilitating distance. A Tetris-like composure of three spaces – bedroom, bathroom and living – are wrapped under the same cedar skin, yet clearly defined in their locations.
The original cottage houses the teenage children, with a heavy-set concrete threshold bridging it to the new upstairs main bedroom. The deliberate offset of the stairwell from the original hallway elongates this bridge, providing a level of separation between parents and children, while multiple points of entry from the various courtyards further facilitate the independent movements of family members.
The original cottage houses the teenage children, with a heavy-set concrete threshold bridging it to the new upstairs main bedroom. The deliberate offset of the stairwell from the original hallway elongates this bridge, providing a level of separation between parents and children, while multiple points of entry from the various courtyards further facilitate the independent movements of family members.
Designer: Figureground Architecture
Project: Fitzroy North House
Location: Fitzroy North, Victoria
Photography: Ari Hatzis
Designer’s notes: This multi-functional inner-urban dwelling is punctuated by a lush courtyard space that separates the music studio from the main house. White masonry extends from the internal to external space to envelope the private garden and create a calming backdrop to the busyness of family life.
The inhabitants are a couple with two young children. Leading busy lives, they desired a place that they could retreat to and enjoy a sense of calm. The idea of a walled, private garden connecting directly with living spaces has provided the client with an inner-city sanctuary where they can relax and entertain.
The careful consideration of the siting of the workshop and music studio, both adjacent to the central courtyard, has allowed for the separation of activities without being completely private or hidden from view.
Project: Fitzroy North House
Location: Fitzroy North, Victoria
Photography: Ari Hatzis
Designer’s notes: This multi-functional inner-urban dwelling is punctuated by a lush courtyard space that separates the music studio from the main house. White masonry extends from the internal to external space to envelope the private garden and create a calming backdrop to the busyness of family life.
The inhabitants are a couple with two young children. Leading busy lives, they desired a place that they could retreat to and enjoy a sense of calm. The idea of a walled, private garden connecting directly with living spaces has provided the client with an inner-city sanctuary where they can relax and entertain.
The careful consideration of the siting of the workshop and music studio, both adjacent to the central courtyard, has allowed for the separation of activities without being completely private or hidden from view.
This project proposes the garden as the most central aspect of the client brief. Far from being a leftover space, the garden shares the architectural language of the internal spaces.
The new rear living areas extend to the full width of the site and white concrete-brick walls continue from the interior to outside, neatly containing the lush garden within.
The workshop and music studio are positioned to the rear, further reinforcing and charging the garden as a central, activated courtyard space.
Doors open, large windows pivot out and battened screens slide, allowing various modes of engagement with this central space.
Your turn
Which of these extensions do you find the most inspiring? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save these images, like this story and join the conversation.
More
Want more on extensions and additions? Don’t miss this story: 5 Small Extensions That Made a Big Difference
The new rear living areas extend to the full width of the site and white concrete-brick walls continue from the interior to outside, neatly containing the lush garden within.
The workshop and music studio are positioned to the rear, further reinforcing and charging the garden as a central, activated courtyard space.
Doors open, large windows pivot out and battened screens slide, allowing various modes of engagement with this central space.
Your turn
Which of these extensions do you find the most inspiring? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save these images, like this story and join the conversation.
More
Want more on extensions and additions? Don’t miss this story: 5 Small Extensions That Made a Big Difference
Project: MacArthur Place
Location: Carlton, Victoria
Photography: Anson Smart
Designer’s notes: The two-storey, Victorian-era house was transformed by Australian architect John Mockridge in 1970. Originally a handball court, in 1869 it held the first intercolonial handball competition, before becoming a brick factory in 1960.
MacArthur Place in Carlton speaks with an avant-garde spirit, a duality of heritage and contemporary design.