A contemporary two-story house featuring clean lines, a dark blue facade, and striking material contrast. It boasts expansive windows, a white accent section with a glass bi-fold doors, and a small lawn area that seamlessly connects the indoor and outdoor spaces. Modern, minimal, and bold.

Nestled in the vibrant fishing community of Fingal, this modest beach house has been reimagined to address modern climate challenges while creating a spacious and functional home for a growing family. The original house has been raised to avoid flood waters, and repositioned over a warm brick screen wall that neatly contains the brick and landscape entry sequence. These entry stairs provide a natural perch to watch kids on the lawn, a place to engage with neighbours or take in the breezes and views to the local waterhole across the road. This is a modest gesture that strongly sets an agenda of neighbourhood engagement. A new addition has been added to the west including a garage, home office and living spaces. These areas sensitively relate to the original house through scale, materials and form. They don’t pretend to be original but sit in a complementary way, with a glazed link playfully connecting the new elements to the original structure. The design represents a considered and sustainable way to repurpose an existing house, while allowing it to better respond to both the changing needs of its owners and the dynamic coastal environment upon which it is built.

3 Bedroom and Office, two-story house for a special couple who love the outdoors and beachside living.

Maurizio Sorvillo

Putra Indrawan

simon woods photography this is the front entrance from the street.

Evening. Photo by Emma Cross

lluís Bernat, 4photos.cat

RADON photography

Darren Kerr photography

Emma Cross

CACO Photography

Thomas Kayser

An extension and renovation to a timber bungalow built in the early 1900s in Shenton Park, Western Australia. Budget $300,000 to $500,000. The original house is characteristic of the suburb in which it is located, developed during the period 1900 to 1939. A Precinct Policy guides development, to preserve and enhance the established neighbourhood character of Shenton Park. With south facing rear, one of the key aspects of the design was to separate the new living / kitchen space from the original house with a courtyard - to allow northern light to the main living spaces. The courtyard also provides cross ventilation and a great connection with the garden. This is a huge change from the original south facing kitchen and meals, which was not only very small, but quite dark and gloomy. Another key design element was to increase the connection with the garden. Despite the beautiful backyard and leafy suburb, the original house was completely cut off from the garden. Now you can see the backyard the moment you step in the front door, and the courtyard breaks the journey as you move through the central corridor of the home to the new kitchen and living area. The entire interior of the home is light and bright. The rear elevation is contemporary, and provides a definite contrast to the original house, but doesn't feel out of place. There is a connection in the architecture between the old and new - for example, in the scale, in the materials, in the pitch of the roof.

Matt Chisnall