Doyle Residence

The clients were a family of 5, with three young children. They wanted to create something contemporary and urban, without it feeling like (their words) an ‘airplane hangar”. They wanted to add a kitchen, laundry, powder room and an undercover entertaining space. One of the clients worked quite late into the evening after the children had gone to bed, so there was a need to create a decent home office and library with some connection to the rest of the home. Having three active kids, there was a requirement for extensive storage and manageable areas to deal with the ‘clutter’ of everyday life.

We were sensitive to the location of the home in what is a very conservative area. As such we needed to respect the streetscape, whilst working towards the client’s brief to have a modern interpretation for the extension.

Even though the block was 1100sqm, we wanted to keep the established garden and the clients were keen to not extend much past the boundary of the current home. We had to be clever with space, knowing that a significant footprint was needed to ensure we could meet the brief. We were thrilled we were able to add over 190sqm of home without encroaching on the outdoor space.

The detailed cantilevered timber box was probably the hardest element of the design and build. Regular meetings with the engineer were held in the design and construction phase to achieve it floating effect, ensuring that structural support and construction integrity were maintained. Having a key understanding of the design and engineering parameters, and being able to transfer this to the construction phase in working alongside trades was paramount to achieving the end result.

In line with its industrial feel, the highest part of the ceiling was 6m, as such, fenestration was a key feature, guaranteeing plenty of light and connection to the outdoor spaces. The large windows across the rear of the dwelling take full advantage of solar gain and light provided by a north facing aspect, whilst a 9.8m rectangular skylight extends the complete southern end of the extension, bridging the new with the older part of the home. The framed aluminium doors extend fully, allowing the space to have greater association to the outdoor entertaining areas, which comes in handy for extended family gatherings.

An integral feature was to retain the original red brick wall marking the boundary of the original home, however structural issues meant it needed to be rebuilt. It was painstakingly remade brick by brick, using those bricks salvaged from the wall and sourcing recovered bricks which matched the colour and texture, to make up the difference. The expanse of brick is moderated by custom timber joinery, breaking up the visual pattern.

The perforated steel stair was a carefully crafted design element, appreciating the need for an undemanding form considering its dominant location in the extension. We worked closely with our design engineer and stair fabricator to detail and execute this piece. Numerous workshop meetings, testing prototypes and inspecting the fabrication at various stages ensured our vision was realised. It’s one of those features that work so seamlessly in the space now, you hardly give it any thought, but it was an important resolution for us to realize.