Fresh take

Designed by C.Kairouz Architects

From the architects:

This home is designed to be an exciting place for children to grow up, featuring flexible spaces, tangible materials, and pockets of landscaping and sky visible from multiple vantage points.

Its striking shapes are softened by mature trees and clever landscaping, blending seamlessly into the streetscape. 

The home reflects a transformative reinterpretation of traditional materials, challenging the conventional aesthetic of a family home. 

Nestled on a snug corner block, the project showcases stacked brickwork forms bridged with a central light well, creating a striking visual and functional focal point. 

This architectural choice not only enhances the structure's aesthetic appeal but also maximises natural light and ventilation, fostering a harmonious indoor-outdoor relationship. 

Landscaping plays a pivotal role in softening the pared-back design – seamlessly integrating the structure with its natural surroundings. 

Permeation and transparency play a key role in the success of the restrained design, providing lightness and interplay between the strong forms. 

Perforated metal, generous openings and strategic landscaping enhance transparency, creating a refined, family-friendly environment that elevates contemporary compact living.

The floor plan is designed for modern family life – children's bedrooms are upstairs with a family bathroom and second living area. 

Downstairs includes communal living spaces, kitchen, laundry, powder room, flexible office, and the central stair separating the master suite. 

In addition, this layout can be adapted to changing needs as the family grows, ensuring the home is future proof.

The house splits at the entrance, creating distinct zones for daily life and balancing privacy with togetherness. 

The central staircase and the connection to the upper level serve as a sculptural feature and a major source of light inside the home. 

The perforated metal banisters allow light and leafy views to transfer between the courtyard garden inward. 

Material choice was crucial, with bricks used throughout as though the structure were carved from a single form. 

Balancing refined design with family-friendliness, and a light-filled interior, the project embodies a thoughtful approach to modern living, enriching the lives of its inhabitants. 

The home raises the bar for contemporary design on a compact site.

The owner's fit-out background ensured quality, especially evident in the kitchen and joinery work, closely aligning with the original design vision while our in-house architecture and interior design services facilitated a cohesive design language. 

The design optimises space, offering ample room for a growing family and dedicated areas which cater to work, guest hosting, and children's play. 

This project effectively maximises the compact site's potential, creating flexible spaces that harmonise and elevate each other. 

Key challenges

Maximising functionality and aesthetics within a limited-size block was a key challenge for this project. 

To address this, our focus was on designing flexible spaces that seamlessly blend and amplify each other. 

We carefully considered the use of hard boundaries – using them sparingly to maintain an open and flowing living environment, while still providing privacy to the street. 

This approach allowed the living area to extend effortlessly through large openings into outdoor spaces, blurring the boundary between indoors and outdoors. 

A key challenge was to create seclusion and a retreat for the master suite while maintaining a sense of openness and connection to the surrounding environment. 

We achieved this through an entrance 'cut', creating a generous vertical void space via the light well and in turn creating a separation to enable a parent’s sanctuary. 

Additionally, to optimise the small site, we balanced creating enough living space for the family of four with providing outdoor areas for children and entertaining. 

By pushing the home hard against the eastern boundary, including an internal courtyard, and designing sight-lines from nearly every room to the gardens, we were able to achieve an open feel that connects the home to nature and the neighbourhood.

Due to the limited size of the block, the focus was on designing flexible areas that blend and amplify each other. 

Hard boundaries were used sparingly to maintain the flow and openness of the living zone. 

This careful balance between solid and void allows the living area to spill effortlessly through large openings into outdoor spaces, blurring the line between inside and out. 

Internally, incorporating bricks into the staircase and kitchen, along with using Artedomus tiles to echo the external stacked patterns, creates a cohesive vision. 

Soft finishes in greys, whites, and warm timbers keep the space feeling airy and uplifting. 

Achieving a sense of grandeur and brightness was crucial for the homeowners. 

High ceilings, oversized doors, the calming material palette, and the central staircase with lightwell – together with strategically placed skylights – all contribute to an expansive atmosphere.

Sustainability 

This project demonstrates a commitment to contemporary sustainability imperatives through thoughtful design and integration of key features. 

Sustainable elements such as rainwater tanks, metal shrouds, solar panels, double glazing, louvred windows and landscaping choices were carefully incorporated to reduce environmental impact and maintenance burdens. 

Priority was given to cross-ventilation to enhance natural airflow and decrease reliance on mechanical heating and cooling systems. 

Internal walls were designed to provide thermal mass, further improving energy efficiency. 

Collaboration with a landscape designer and the lead architect's background in landscape architecture ensured sustainable landscaping practices, including the preservation of mature trees and selection of low-maintenance, water- efficient plants. 

The driveway was also designed to incorporate greenery in the permeable pavers, maximising landscaping presence on the small site and enhancing the project's overall sustainability.

Story by: Trendsideas