hewitt residence

The majority of Australian homes built before the 1970s have floor plan layouts suited to the northern hemisphere rather than the southern hemisphere. Their internal living spaces often face south rather than north and being open to capture the northern winter sun. Old homes also usually have small windows making them cold and dark in winter.

The brief for this project was to extend the existing brick and iron cottage to accommodate the client’s growing young family, and to reconfigure the house based on the principles of passive solar design.

This was achieved by adding a long living pavilion with a north facing return at the rear of the house, which encapsulated a new alfresco entertaining deck. An open-able north facing roof light was also installed over the new dining area to gain additional winter sun and views to the sky. The project’s materials are abstraction of the existing.