Proverbs14 House

For the Proverbs14 House, a modest addition extends and transforms a well-lived life. This alterations and additions project involves the extensive reimagining of a slender late Federation era heritage cottage in Cammeray, located on Sydney's lower north shore (NSW, Australia). The slender stand-alone brick and tile cottage was built in the 1920s and owned by our client’s family over several generations. Having accommodated both family and tenants over the years, the house was very worn and in dire need of improvement and modernisation.

Our client - a single, older woman who for many years had worked in healthcare across urban, rural and remote Australia - came to us with a brief for a home that was to have three key qualities - ‘good light, good flow, a blend of old and new’. She was determined to retain her family’s property, reinvent her own life and embrace the desired blend of old and new. This inherently straightforward mindset cuts to the core of our architectural approach for the project, which has found a characterful, highly detailed expression realised in its built outcome. Both dwelling and landscape were completely overhauled to create resilience and capture our own ambition to extend the building’s life and purpose for another hundred years - preserving both carbon heritage and architectural heritage.

With a final internal space measuring around 130sqm (please see the floor plans in the images attached), the design involves clever overlapping of functions, smart storage and considered approach to leveraging the available circulation space. Given that the dwelling is in a conservation area, there was limited scope for the street facing portion of the dwelling to be altered - upgrading the sustainable performance of the dwelling and refurbishment of all surfaces and building elements was instead the approach for this part of the building.

We careful unpicked the less desirable add-ons and outdated arrangements of the existing dwelling, and made sure to retain and improve the main structure of the cottage. By preserving and elevating the interior light quality of the side entry and hallway circulation, we were then able to improve the previously enclosed front verandah and two bedrooms on the ground floor.

The rear portion of the dwelling was altered and updated to include a new bathroom and compact open plan kitchen, living and dining space. A new stair (with pocket sized laundry and storage space hidden under) clips these spaces together, a space-efficient connection between the reimagined ground floor and the new first floor addition.

The new first floor bedroom suite, complete with bathroom and walk through wardrobe, is an airy, light-filled space that is a complete joy to occupy. Whilst small in footprint, the spaces are big on impact, with a rear garden facing picture window and extensive district views of the nearby Flat Rock Gully tree canopy, and surrounding leafy suburbs.

With a warm palette of dusty green hues and timbers balanced against the polished concrete and fresh white walls, the renewed dwelling exudes calm and tranquility for our nature-loving client. With her everyday living completely transformed by these thoughtful, refined spaces, this is the home of a wise woman indeed.