Design concept, site conditions, client brief, environmental efficiency, etc.
Known locally as 'The Wedge House', Lilywill Terrace is a locally heritage-listed Federation Free Classical dwelling occupying a triangular corner site at a prominent Balmain intersection. The threestorey house is viewed in the round, with equal design weight given to front and rear elevations.
The clients wished to retain the eclectic character accumulated by previous owners while opening the house to light, harbour views and functional contemporary living. Functions are separated vertically across three floors: a private suite and artist's studio at the top, living, dining and kitchen at entry level, and bedrooms and bathrooms below.
The principal intervention replaces a crumbling multi-storey rear balcony structure with a new verandah series over three levels, unified in Venetian red. Timber and steel balustrades ascend from thick to thin, echoing the cast iron lacework of the heritage front facade while reading as clearly contemporary. Operable louvre screens manage solar access, privacy and harbour breezes across all levels.
Original cornices, marble fireplaces, leadlight entry doors and period detailing were carefully retained and restored throughout. Passive heating and cooling, cross ventilation, solar panels and extensive solar control eliminate the need for air conditioning, demonstrating that sustainability and sensitive heritage conservation are wholly compatible goals.
The two bathrooms presented an unusual spatial challenge: on a constrained heritage site with no capacity to expand the building footprint, the brief called for bathrooms that were both compact and genuinely generous in feel.
The solution borrows space from the new verandah structure. Shower recesses on the lower ground and first floors are projected outward onto the upper floor balcony and lower ground floor terrace, extending the usable area of each bathroom and flooding them with natural light. From outside, this reads as a pair of curved timber-clad pods concealed within the red balcony structure, giving the rear elevation an animated quality. From within, the sensation is of showering almost in the open air, with harbour light filtering through the floor to ceiling fluted glass and pivoting wall panels that discretely open to screened harbour views and ventilation.
The two bathrooms are deliberately similar in character. Differentiated mainly by the use of floor tile. On the ground floor zig-zag herringbone terracotta floor tiles by Artedomus continue into the bathroom from both internal and external ground floor spaces. Walls are tiled in handmade Inax 2x1 inch Hanten Glaze tiles. The first-floor bathroom uses the same wall tile, but terrazzo tiles by Concrete Collaborative in alabaster and marble chip feature on the floor the warm red tones tying in with the venetian red of the external structure. Frameless shower glass and Omvivo or custom Corian basins feature in both spaces, as does the use of detailed blackbutt joinery. In both rooms, delicate curves to tiling and walls contrast with the angular geometry of the broader house.
Tapware and fittings throughout are Astra-walker Icon in Charcoal Bronze, providing a consistent, considered material thread. Feature lighting is by Flos, with the Glo-Ball Zero wall light chosen for its soft, diffused quality suited to the intimacy of the spaces.
The spatial generosity of the bathrooms is created not through size but through the ingenuity of the borrowed balcony volumes, delivering a high-quality result within a tightly constrained footprint.
Team:
Architects: Sam Crawford Architects
Photographer: Brett Boardman
Materials Used:
Bathroom Joinery
• Lower Ground Flor Basin, custom formed in Corian Light Ash, by CASF Australia, lower ground floor bathroom
• First Floor Basin, Omvivo Neo Mini, in white, first floor bathroom
• Bathroom benchtop and shelves, Corian Light Ash, by CASF Australia, both bathrooms
• Mirror, Viridian DécorMirror, clear, both bathrooms
• Frameless shower glass, 10mm toughened clear glass, both bathrooms
Bathroom Lighting
• Wall light, Flos Glo-Ball Zero, white glass, 8W 3000K, by Euroluce, both bathrooms
Bathroom Tapware and Fittings
• Basin mixer, Astrawalker Icon with swivel spout, in Charcoal Bronze, both bathrooms
• Wall set basin mixer, Astrawalker Icon with 150mm spout, in Charcoal Bronze, first floor bathroom
• Shower mixer, Astrawalker Icon wall set mixer, in Charcoal Bronze, both bathrooms
• Ceiling mounted shower head, Astrawalker Icon 200mm diameter, in Charcoal Bronze, both bathrooms
• Toilet flush plate, Astrawalker, in Charcoal Bronze, both bathrooms • In-wall cistern, Astrawalker, both bathrooms
• Towel rail, Astrawalker Icon Plus 600mm single, in Charcoal Bronze, both bathrooms • Robe hook, Astrawalker Icon, in Charcoal Bronze, both bathrooms
• Toilet roll holder, Astrawalker Icon Plus, in Charcoal Bronze, both bathrooms
• Floor waste, Stormtech, stainless steel, both bathrooms
Bathroom Sanitaryware
• Floor mounted toilet pan with soft close seat, Astrawalker Pura, in white, both bathrooms
Bathroom Windows and Doors
• Pivot door hinge, Argenta Pivotica Pro, self-closing, stainless steel, both bathrooms
• Recessed aluminium glazing channel window, anodised steel, both bathrooms
Internal Walls
• Bathroom wall tiles, Inax 2x1 inch Hanten glaze, by Artedomus, in grid join format, lower ground floor and first floor bathrooms
• Tile grout, Kerakoll Fugabella Colour Grout, in warm and cool tones subtly shifting across surfaces, both bathrooms
• External Timber wall cladding, Sculptform Tongue and Groove, Sorrento profile in Blackbutt, external cladding to bathroom pods on lower ground floor and first floor
Flooring
• Lower Ground Floor - Terracotta floor tiles, Cotto Manetti Arrotato da crudo (Rustic), 280x70mm, by Artedomus, lower ground floor bathroom
• First Floor - Terrazzo floor tiles, Concrete Collaborative Venice, alabaster with marble chip, first floor bathroom
Other Products
• Exhaust fan, Expella Shadowline, white, both bathrooms
