Light House
Architecture Residential New South Wales, Australia
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1. Aerial Image Sitting between the street (left) and Bronte Gully (right), the home transitions through a series of gradual level changes to increase accessibility to the surrounding greenery. 5760 px 4321 px 7 MB A3 print |
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2. Entry Bridge While the home was previously accessed via a steep and narrow staircase, a street-level entry was created that bridges the existing garage to the new rooftop garden and first floor addition. 5760 px 3240 px 4 MB A4 print |
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3. Rooftop Garden The entry space and rooftop garden establishes a biophilic connection that is carried throughout the project. Carbon neutral and carbon negative materials are used throughout, including the external cladding and responsibly sourced hardwood timber features. 5760 px 4316 px 6 MB A3 print |
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4. Entry The natural finish of the CLT is celebrated in the interior of the home, finished with a no-VOC stain to improve durability and ensure the wellbeing of the occupants. The off-centered skylights provide abundant natural light to the stairwell and lower levels during the day, but are positioned to be shaded from afternoon sun to limit unwanted heat gains. 4608 px 5760 px 5 MB A3 print |
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5. Stairwell By optimising new window openings and building volumes with the use of daylighting calculations and simulations, the previously dark home's natural light quality was improved significantly. 5760 px 3240 px 3 MB A4 print |
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6. Kitchen An emphasis was placed on using raw and honest materials where possible, strengthening the biophilic connection between the interior spaces and exterior gardens. By exposing structural materials, such as the CLT on the interior and concrete pool to the garden, a large reduction in embodied energy was achieved by minimising the amount of cladding and linings required. 5760 px 3240 px 3 MB A4 print |
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7. Dining Strategically retaining openings and improving the thermal performance of the existing brick walls allowed both the environmental and financial impact of the project to be minimised while still ensuring the home remains functional for another 50+ years. 4608 px 5760 px 4 MB A3 print |
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8. Parent's Retreat All bedrooms open to private outdoor spaces, providing outlook to the gully's natural landscape and the homes gardens, filled with native plants. 5760 px 4317 px 5 MB A3 print |
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9. Kid's Courtyard While the shared spaces of the home have been designed as one cohesive social area, a shared private courtyard connected to the Kid's Bedrooms provides a place for the children to cherish their independence as they grow. 4608 px 5760 px 6 MB A3 print |
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10. Landscaping & Pool Designed in collaboration with Landscape Architect Melissa Wilson, the endemic garden of low-water requirement plantings surround a salt-water pool, constructed with a focus on dematerialisation. By exposing the textured concrete shell of the pool, use of any secondary materials to clad the surface was avoided, reducing the project's embodied carbon impact. 4608 px 5760 px 9 MB A3 print |
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11. Floor Plans - Rooms Annotated 4960 px 3507 px 1 MB A4 print |
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12. Floor Plans - No Annotations 4960 px 3507 px 1 MB A4 print |
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13. Section 1 2480 px 1753 px 382 KB Print - Low res only |
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14. Section 2 2480 px 1753 px 518 KB Print - Low res only |
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15. Daylighting Analysis A core part of the project's brief was that the natural daylighting of the home be improved. By using daylighting simulations as part of the iterative design process, a significant improvement to natural daylighting was achieved for all habitable spaces in the home. 4963 px 3509 px 463 KB A3 print |
Description
Light House is a revitalised two storey home located in the Sydney beach suburb of Bronte. Located in the Bronte Gully, an area characterised by a dense urban streetscape that steps down to a verdant green corridor at the rear, the original house was a robust but dark single-story brick house accessed via a cramped entry below street level and overshadowed by the neighbours. The aim of Light House was to radically transform the feel of the home while retaining as much as possible of the original structure for environmental and cost reasons. The design of Light House centres on strategies to introduce ample natural daylight and natural ventilation throughout the home, while connecting the interior to the garden at every opportunity.
The entry of the home was reconfigured so that you enter the house at street-level, via a green roof. This arrival sequence establishes a biophilic connection to the garden and gully that continues throughout the house. The primary bedrooms and private spaces have been retained but reinvigorated with updated glazing, skylights, and an insulated high-performance envelope. The communal spaces of the house have been reconfigured to provide more generous proportions with fluid connections to the garden. The garden has been designed in collaboration with Melissa Wilson Landscape Architect with a generous outdoor dining area and swimming pool.
An upper-floor extension hosts the entry, main bedroom, ensuite, and robe. This extension was constructed from Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) which was central to the sustainability strategy as it provides a structural system that does not require secondary internal cladding. This efficient use of materials is part of the de-materialised design philosophy which seeks to eliminate waste and celebrate materials in their raw form. All of the new building fabric - including structure, cladding, and linings - were selected for their carbon neutral and carbon negative properties. The combination of maximising re-use, thoughtful specification of new materials, double glazed windows, insulation, and the inclusion of solar panels, and rainwater tanks results in a beautiful and environmentally friendly family home.
Questions and Answers
Key products used:
- Re-use bricks onsite
- Re-use concrete onsite
- Weathertex - External Cladding - Primelok Shadowood Smooth 170mm
- Schilliger Holz CLT Solutions - First Floor Addition - Certified Cross Laminated Timber
- Boral - Certified Timber decking, flooring & dressed timber - Blackbutt
- Briggs - Joinery - Certified Laminate - Blackbutt
- Nicco Timber Windows and Doors - Timber framed double glazed windows
- Sanden - domestic hot water heat pump & storage tank
- Bradford Insulation - Polyester insulation - Polymax
- 6kW REC solar system with electric vehicle charging capacity with garage.
- Solar hot water heat pump on timer that only heats pool during onsite renewable generation.
- Salt water pool.
- Concrete pool with re-usable formwork with no additional finishes
- Re-used pavers for landscaping
- Beaumont Tiles - Wall and Floor Tiles - Matt White & Satin White
- Caesartone - Benchtops - Fresh Concrete
- EcoOutdoor - Pavers - Modular Pacific Bluestone Antique
- Colorbond - External Cladding - Custom Orb Cladding - Basalt (Matt)
- Axiom Group - External balustrades - Lynfield Suite
- Beacon Lighting - Internal light fixtures
What was the brief?
The clients are a family of four who love the coast, sports and wanted to create a forever home close to Bronte Beach. The most important part of the brief was to improve the dark and cold existing house to a home filled with natural daylight. This brief led to an architectural approach which focused on strategic interventions to the existing building rather than an extensive knock down and rebuild. These strategic interventions saw an optimised combination of new openings, a modest addition and reconfiguration of existing spaces.
What were the key challenges?
The main challenge was to know where to start and stop with re-use of the existing home. The strategy that was adopted prioritised the longevity of materials, reduced embodied energy and long term thermal performance to make sure the building operated efficiently for 50+ years.
Challenges included:
- Re-insulating existing cavity brick. We were able to clean and seal cavity and re-insulate with a blow-in insulation.
- Re-insulating the existing floor which was a combination of concrete slab and hardwood timber framing which we where able to re-insulate and minimise thermal bridges.
- Merging levels on a steeply sloping site. This was resolved by a re-orientation of the main circulation path to include a series of ramps and shorter stairs to make it feel as though you slowly descended into the property connected to views of nature at all times.
- Creating a dematerialised, low embodied energy aesthetic which was “conventional” and acceptable to client who were wanting a beach house feel. This was achieved this via applying multiple coats of a zero VOC stain over the finished certified cross laminated timber structure with accents of certified hardwood.
- For one of the property boundaries, installing vapour permeable membranes that also adhered to fire-resistance requirements proved challenging. The project team of architect, builder and suppliers worked together to achieve an envelope that did not trap moisture and also met the deem-to-satisfy fire rating requirements.
- Retrofitting rainwater tanks into the existing basement was a challenge. Under deck rainwater tanks were strategically placed within the existing pier and structure layout.
Details
| Project size | 223 m2 |
| Site size | 474 m2 |
| Completion date | 2021 |
| Building levels | 2 |
Project team
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Alexander Symes | Architect |
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Alexander Symes Architect | Architect |
| AJP Constructions Pty Ltd | Builder | |
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Cantilever Consulting Engineers | Structural Engineer |
| Melissa Wilson Landscape Architects | Landscape Architect |