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PROJECT TEAM
Practice Team:
Lucy Bedbrook
Project Architect
William Smart
Design Architect
Anita Panov
Project Team
Consultant Team:
Istruct
Structural
Consultant
Will Dangar Design
Landscape
Consultant
GSA Planning
Planner
QS Plus
Quantity Surveyor
Basix
Efficient Living
Building Certificates
Australia
Certifier
Tropman and
Tropman
Heritage Consultant
Geometra
Building Surveyor
Construction Team:
Anthony Alexious
Builder
George Alexious
Project Manager
John Sussanna
Concrete Contractor
Established 2014
This recently named award recognises the
importance of alterations and additions
in residential work, especially for small
practices and is named in acknowledgment
of the mid-century partnership of Hugh and
Eva Buhrich and their contribution to the
profession.
RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE - HOUSES (ALTERATIONS & ADDITIONS)
HUGH AND EVA BUHRICH AWARD
Orama is a stately Victorian
villa in Sydney’s Woollahra,
whose elegant facade
presented to the street is
balanced by a substantial
concrete pavilion fused
to the rear, extending the
proportions of the existing
home. The transformation
between the old and the
new is seamless. Meticulous
restoration of the original
villa, while also allowing
for new material layers and
joinery, combined with robust
detailing throughout the
interior spaces, have created a
suite of inviting rooms.
The progression from the
original building to the
pavilion is hinged by a
calm intermediary space,
allowing for a brief pause that
articulates the transition from
the old to the new. From here
one enters an impressive and
dramatically vertical concrete
space - a double height family
room and kitchen. Carefully
positioned openings draw
natural light from the sides
and above. The rooms open
onto generous terraced
gardens which connect back
to the original home, whose
form is now embraced and
allowed to ‘breathe’.
The new pavilion, that only
presents subtle cues from the
street, successfully interprets
the masonry nature of the
original. The silky flawlessness
of the concrete is highlighted
by the indentations of a
meticulous formwork pattern,
which carry through to the
interior.
The rendered formality
of the existing home and
monumental mass of the
concrete addition are joined
in a refined manner and each
component has integrity. They
stand together successfully,
neither overwhelmed by the
material or the spatial contrast
of the other. Orama is an
expertly realised project that
communicates a state of calm
throughout.
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