A cramped, dark and damp Victorian workers’ cottage is transformed into a light-filled, flowing and uplifting home, while referencing original features of the house. The project is unique in that the architect was also its builder, so this provided the opportunity to test out ambitious ideas and their consequence during construction. One of the special aspects about this project is the play of contrasts between the modest facade and what lies inside. Like a veil of camouflage, the front gives nothing away of its contents and remains perfectly anonymous.

Brief
A professional couple asked us to breathe new life into their recently purchased Victorian of 60m2. Due to budget constraints, all changes had to be made inside the existing envelope.

Plan
We felt a couple would only need one dedicated bedroom so the front room could be incorporated into the hallway and become a flexible and open living space. On the occasion that guests stay over, a curtain can be pulled across to ‘wall’ off a spare room. The kitchen was reconfigured to include a generous island for ease of circulation and encourage shared cooking. The dining area extends out from the island bench and provides a seamless transition to the courtyard.

Section
While we couldn’t increase the square metreage of the house, we could add to the volume and feeling of space. We did this by lifting the ceiling to the line of the original rafters which created the opportunity to light the house indirectly by placing LED strips atop the newly exposed ceiling joists. In addition, a little quirk can be seen on the brick wall in the kitchen where we punched a hole through at the top to add a further connection between front and back and provide an access point to the attic floor. This connection can be felt when the light from LED’s running around the bedroom perimeter are switched on.

Light
There are no downlights in this project and the entire house is lit indirectly with energy efficient LED strip lights shining up at the ceiling and reflecting back a comfortable warm glow. Where task lights were needed in the kitchen and bathroom, we made custom linear pendants which complement the linear theme of the house. In the bedroom we flipped this pendant upside down to create an uplight which provides a softly lit ceiling€ - perfect for making the transition into night.

In the bathroom there are a number of lighting options. During the day natural light shines down the rear wall where a skylight was cut-out over the shower. After dark, aside from the custom pendant, the shower screen can be lit, which has been fitted with an LED strip along its top edge and provides just enough light to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

White translucent multi-cell polycarbonate has been fitted to the entire roof section covering the dining area, providing enough natural light to illuminate the back half of the house well after the neighbours have turned on their lights.

Passive energy design
The narrow house faces north and the front living area becomes flooded with sunlight, penetrating deep into the hallway. The raised cathedral ceiling draws up much of the hot air during occasional hot summer periods, leaving the lower areas of the house cooler. The existing house had good thermal properties to begin with. Most of both party walls are shared with a neighbour and there is good cross-flow ventilation to release heat when the front and rear doors are opened. The large skylight over the dining area to the south saves hours of artificial lighting each day.

Material Used :
- Spotted gum decking
- Solid blackbutt flooring
- Birch plywood
- Caesarstone Pure White™.
- Galvanised steel cable-tray used to conceal electrical wiring along the underside of the ridgeline and up walls to avoid cutting into the original brickwork.
- Tiles - 75mm x 600mm fully vitrified ceramic floor tile.

Flooring
- New 14mm thick, 135mm wide solid blackbutt flooring on 19mm chipboard substrate to bedroom, hall and front room.
- The back half of the house was tiled. We built up the floor on top to utilise the existing thermal mass this old floor had and added cement floor leveller, plywood and blackbutt boards.
- Blackbutt was finished with 2 coats of low VOC OSMO 3501 white stain and 2 coats of OSMO Polyx wood wax oil.

Decking
- 135mm x 19mm Spotted gum on Surefoot footing system.
- Surefoot steel footings were chosen because they have the least impact on the ground and surrounding neighbours compared to conventional systems like concrete and stumps. It also worked out to be a lot cheaper, easier and quicker to install.

Insulation
- Bradford Polymax R2.5 Polyester Batts pressed between original hardwood rafters.

Glazing 
- Skylight over dining area is 16mm multi-cell polycarbonate. Helps to save hours of artificial lighting each day. Supplied by Danpalon using their Solarspace roof system.
- Existing steel doors to courtyard was upgraded with 6.38mm laminated safety glass.

Heating and cooling
- Hydronic heating throughout powered by a Bosch instantaneous split-system hot water unit. Long and slim panels were chosen to complement the narrow spaces.
- No artificial cooling was installed because the house can be passively cooled during very hot periods.

Walls
- Existing brick walls were damp-proofed by injecting a fluid into the lowest course every 120mm.

Water Tank
- Rainwater from the roof is collected in a Colorbond water tank for use on the vertical herb garden and pot plants.

Lighting 
- LED lights are fitted throughout. This includes strips atop the exposed ceiling joists, over the bedroom and inside the custom linear pendants.