When I last posted we had stalled in our design process. Single storey or two storey? Could the budget handle it? Are we mad? And would we be doing the existing house justice? All difficult questions but we arrived at these dilemmas because the first […]
Author: sydneyhouse
Houzz on Pettit & Sevitt
Photo: Lowline B by Ken Woolley for Pettit & Sevitt. Photo source: Modernhouse.co (Photographers © Michael Nicholson, © Tamara Graham) Houzz recently published a handy rehash of the reasons why P&S houses work on so many levels. It’s been hard to find much information about P&S […]
Lowline extension…
As mentioned in my earlier post, we’ve been tossing up with the issue of single storey bliss and our floor plan needs as a family. We’ve spent months going over concepts and options with our patient Architect and along the way we have managed to test the […]
Single storeyness – The floorplan conundrum
It’s been a while since my last post, but I wanted to update on the ruminations we’ve had while working on the floor plan, various issues presented by the modern house, and our challenges and solutions so far. Key things we love about modernist design, […]
The Death of Model Making?
Is it real? Or imagined? Since our journey through the design process began for our own home, one thing has struck me. Computers, indispensible as they are, seem to have removed the one thing I loved about the idea of designing or building (or extending) a […]
Architect Virginia Wong See
Good friend Architect Virginia Wong See and family made a big move to the NSW north coast. And who could blame them – clean air, open spaces and buckets of opportunities. Different opportunities to those offered by the relatively over-crowded, tightly contested Sydney market where […]
Architect Stephen Varady
A Stephen Varady designed house recently went up for sale in the next suburb. A rare gem in a street of otherwise fairly conventional homes, as well as some pretty disturbing knock-down re-builds. The Fullagar Residence, is just one of Stephen’s many great works. Published […]
Lap, kidney, rectangle: The pool dilemma
When I grew up in Sydney’s west, the dreamiest dream in the world was to have a pool. A few people we knew had one, but not many. Worst of all, it was deliriously hot the further you got away from the ocean and Sydney’s […]
Pettit + Sevitt Elements
When we first purchased our house, the real estate agent hadn’t noticed it was a P+S. Needless to say after realising they might have been able to sell it for more, their eyes widened. Nevertheless, we confirmed with the seller’s son and it was indeed […]
Philip Johnson’s Glass House: Where is the doorbell?
We’ve been fortunate to see some wonderful buildings and places on travels over the years. With the tourist stuff out of the way, we usually look for more interesting sights when returning to a city we’ve visited before. Philip Johnson’s Glass House has always been […]
Architect: Sam Marshall
We love reading about architecture and have known architects for most of my adult life, through our friendships. So, I want to write about the architects I most admire. Starting with our own architect for this house: Architect Sam Marshall Sam is an award winning Australian architect […]
What is that? The renovation, restoration or knock down trend
(The above photo is an example of the McMansion home…a mock something or other with little reference to anything vaguely appropriate for our climate, but with a large floor space). It’s a vexed issue. When you become the owner of a home it is for living […]
