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PROJECT TEAM
Practice Team:
Brent Dunn
Project Architect
Katharina Hendel
Project Designer
Consultant Team:
Partridge Partners
Structural Consultant
Construction Team:
Mark Loader from
Bricon
Builder
Green Friends
Landscapes
Landscape Designer
This small, sixty square metre
house is in the rear yard of
an existing residence on a
steeply sloping headland
site in Coogee, replacing an
earlier fibro dwelling in poor
condition and which was built
over the side boundary.
Accommodating two
bedrooms, bathroom and
living space, the building
is an inventive response to
constrained site conditions
and the client’s requirement
for a small residence
with multiple future uses,
including a granny flat, visitor
accommodation or possible
permanent home. The brief
was for a retreat with spaces
that are rich, tactile and light,
and that feel both private and
coastal.
The site’s topography is
accommodated by dividing
the house into three small
structures stepping up the
hill, transforming a difficult
site condition into an
advantage through the use of
individual butterfly roofs over
each pavilion, with highlight
windows to maximise access
to sun and views. Existing
hedges, fences and retaining
walls which enclose the site
are concealed, achieving
privacy without compromise
to light or outlook. Space
for storage and amenity is
maximised through the use of
half-height spaces between
pavilions.
The house is designed on
a 600mm grid to suit its
materials. The carefully
detailed exposed steel frame
enabled quick construction
and unifies the design. In
addition to its distinctive
butterfly roof forms, the
house is distinguished
through its structural
expression internally
and externally and well
conceived and executed
details. Materials are chosen
for beauty and durability
including copper wall
cladding, canvas wall panels
internally, waxed concrete
floor and timber joinery.
1
Bed 1
2
Bed 2
3
Bath
4
Laundry
5
Bay window
6
Kitchen
7
Living & Dining
8
Courtyard
1
2
3
4
5 6
8
7
Established 2013
The Small Project Architecture Award
was named in 2013 to honour architect
Robert Woodward AM whose career was
significantly altered after winning the
Institutes’ Civic Design Award in 1964 for the
El Alamein Memorial Fountain in Kings Cross.
‘Small’ refers to the scale of the project rather
than the budget and there are no restrictions
on the entries provided that the work has
been built.
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