The director of Zuzana & Nicholas, Nicholas Skepper, says that the lift and build under “is a very common approach when it comes to renovating the old cottages and increased queenslanders from Brisbane.
But it is also an approach that can often be carried out poorly, which leads to dark interiors at a newly added lower level and strange building shares.
When they decided to use this strategy in their West End House project, the team was determined to do things a little differently.
“Our goal was to create a slightly filled and generous lower level that was well connected to the garden and the rooms on the upper level,” says Nicholas.
The order was to offer additional living space without entering the lush garden. This made the lifting of the existing Tims Cottage of the 20th century and the building in the uninhabited person affected the best option.
It was also the second time that architects were designed for her client Tamsin after working on her previous home when her children were younger.
Now the family of three needed a larger home with more space and was partly attracted to the West End. Against this background, the design tried to be a “good neighbor” that preserved and supplemented these properties of the area.
By minimal lifting of the house, Zuzana & Nicholas ensured that the house kept its traditional proportions off the road, while the existing upper level was renovated to record the bedrooms and bathrooms.
The significant changes came on the lower level, where a new kitchen, a food, a life, a laundry and a powder room as well as a new reverberation were added, which reflect the design of the facade.
On the inside, the steps mark the transition from low ceilings at the entrance to open volumes.
“Several cavities were cut to the upper floor to improve connectivity over the level, including a large emptiness over the kitchen that brings light from the northeastern windows on the upper level,” adds Nicholas.
After working with Tamsin, she was also crucial for the success of the project, since she trusted her design intent to do without an entire room in favor of this transformative opening.
The kitchen combines a long stainless steel bench with a hazelnut-plywood handle and balances the older features of the house with a contemporary edge.
And the new details are all carefully shaped around the gardens. From spacious openings, the lavish views in the open frame, to the use of the same conventional chainwire fences with a low high chain economy, so that each of the neighboring neighbors can visually borrow the baking gardens of the other.
“The renovation work and additions have transformed a solid but tired house into a house that will support the young family through the school years of children and adulthood,” says Nicholas.
“The connections between the house, garden and neighborhood often support a lifestyle half outdoors and with friends and neighbors.”