This is a house for a family of four in a beachside suburb of Sydney. It is on a steep hill, facing north to views of park full of tall trees. The lot is cut into the side of a hill with a fall of 6 metres from back garden to the street. The clients, a New Zealander and a Taswegian, wanted living and entertaining space for extended family and friends with a private bedroom floor above.

We designed a glazed podium connecting the back garden to a terrace overlooking the park.The spilt level podium is furnished with a loosely arranged kitchen connected to a lofty living space with built in seating and fireplace. The concrete basement contains cellular rooms- garage, rainwater tank, games room (doubling as a bedroom for family visits),media room, study and a bathroom with a big bath.

The timber bedroom level above is clad with vertical panels and vertical louvred windows spanning from floor to floor. The bedrooms are grouped around an enclosed skylit stair. The children’s bedrooms have a balcony with a view to the garden and pool, the parents a view of the park and the distant ocean. One child’s bedroom has dressing room; the other a climbing wall leading to a loft. The loft gives access to the roof for maintenance and a future solar photovoltaic array.

Concrete basement, glazed podium, timber bedrooms. The basement level has painted concrete floors leading to the stone floors of the living level. The bedroom floors and stair are made of chocolate coloured jarrah hardwood.