Garrett House

2010

Haberfield, NSW

Our clients have commented that what they love about the interior of the house is the feeling that it gives of having been there for a long time. To say that the design is timeless is overstating it. It is more that the materials feel settled; perhaps because some have been recycled from the old building - and therefore have a story - or perhaps, like the concrete floors and benches, because they are robust enough not to feel new or precious.

The spaces and the things that inhabit the spaces are designed very specifically for our clients. They wanted the new work to express how they live, and want to live. Many parts of the existing house, and the lives of its occupants, are incorporated into the new work; recycled timbers, newspaper clippings, and family stories are all woven into the furnishing and fabric of the building.

The new living rooms are pulled back from the existing building, separated by a central courtyard which is pivotal to the design of the house as it provides light, winter sunlight, natural ventilation and a connection to outdoors for all of the new living areas. The gable roofs, a requirement of Council's Heritage regulations, provided an opportunity to further provide natural daylight into the living spaces via large high level gable-end windows at 3 room ends. 

Project team: Sam Crawford, Karen Erdos, Jolyon Sykes 

Builder: Tricon Constructions

Consultants/ collaborators:

Structural: Simpson Design Associates, Andrew Simpson

Landscape: Melissa Wilson Landscape Architecture, Glenn Murray

Sculpture: Morgan Shimeld, sculptor

Hydraulic: Northrop

Land Surveyor: Daw & Walton

Quantity Surveyor: Donald Bayley

Council: Ashfield

Photography: Brett Boardman