The original house was an award winning 1980’s post-modernist icon set on bushy acreage on the fringes of Hobart.  While the bones of good design were still evident, the house was somewhat tired, dated and not quite in keeping with the new family’s values or lifestyle.

The front half of the house had clearly been the main focus of the original design.  Generous entertainment and living spaces with ideal solar orientation flowed to outdoor living spaces.  By comparison the entrance was pokey and the back half of the house disconnected from the front of the house and the outdoor spaces and landscape.

The brief was to add a fourth bedroom, a garage and home office for a highly specialised business.  Physical separation of the office from the house without creating a separate building, allow family life and work to function happily side by side.

By lifting the office we were able to maximise solar gain over the top of the existing building and provide the owner with a pleasant work-space near the tree-tops.  The extension and consolidation of the floor plan awakened the rear of the house to create a more balanced, fully-formed family home. 

Builder: Mc Donald Builders Pty Ltd
Engineers: Gandy and  Roberts Pty Ltd