For me as an architect the big thing that drew me to this project was that it was
this kind of funny sight with all this space next to it and a heap of problems to solve.
My name's John Ellway I'm the architect on this project Cascade House.
Paddington's a really interesting inner-city suburb of Brisbane it's
kind of like hilly and has a lot of water flow in rainy times but it's
not too far from the city so quite a popular place for people to live
the little cottages in Brisbane tend to sit a little bit off the ground to let the land below
slope away a lot of people tend to lift the houses and build in underneath and it's something I try
not do in my projects and it really by keeping them where they are it keeps the streetscape
intact and the lucky thing about this site was that large square block with space to the side
and that meant that we could build the addition as a lead to sloping down the block towards the West.
My name is Jac and I'm the homeowner of Cascade House.
So when we came to see the house we were greeted with a home that was sitting on a rare square
block and it was in a fairly dilapidated state the great thing was that internally it was in
pretty good condition and structurally it was in pretty good condition so it made sense to
not touch the house as it sat too much at all and let all the new work happen to the side.
Coming off the footpath you enter the house through the parking area into the meals and
kitchen area from there you step up into a lounge entertaining space and
then connect through a breezeway into the old part of the cottage.
The old part of the cottage has the more private spaces
in the house so four bedrooms, the laundry and two bathrooms.
Our key brief to John
was to connect the house to the garden we were a growing family so we needed additional space and
we really wanted to have grass connecting through to the living spaces so it was seamless we wanted
to be able to throw a blanket out and picnic under a tree and have dinner under the stars.
The original timber cottages tend to be quite enclosed however in
the extension we wanted to do the opposite of that and have areas of
large opening and windows so that you felt like you were part of the garden.
So that was the key thing for their brief,
a house that let their family connect and be part of their garden and the ground.
Having the existing cottage over to one side of the square block meant that we could build down
to the side of the house but the big thing to overcome there was this was on the west
to protect the extension from that Western sun we simply extended the veranda roof on
the same angle down the hillside of the block and below that sits the various platforms
that cascade down the site that contain the living area, kitchen dining room, and entry.
The kitchen is quite fun it's got a lot of kind of little nooks and crevices like there's a hidden
cabinet covered by glass it's actually under the seat of the lounge so there's quite a bit
going on with the kitchen and it was important that the appliances didn't become the focus.
The fact that Fisher & Paykel and their integrated
appliances seamlessly integrate with the custom joinery and the design of the home
is so important to me as a designer and someone who values aesthetics.
It was key that our functional pieces not only performed but that they also looked
beautiful and blended in with what John and I were trying to achieve.
A funny story about Fisher & Paykel is when I was at school I got to go
visit the fridge factory so that's kind of where I first was introduced to the brand.
I thought they're a good fit for this project in terms of budget but also the
appliances that were out on the show were visually simple and sat well in the broader
context of the kitchen sitting with the brass benchtops and the plywood cabinetry.
In terms of some of the key materials that were used throughout the project the polished
concrete floor was a given it made sense to polish a foundation that was being poured
The brass and the plywood was something that I'd been thinking about well before
the renovation started and something that I wanted to bring to the table with John
One of the lovely things about only using a couple of materials on a project is the
focus becomes on how you detail them well and how they sit in the space.
I think Jac and I became quite fastidious about how these simple groups of materials
would work together in terms of detailing and I think that kind of comes through with
a common love of materials like Jac's love of texture and my obsession with detail.
The great thing about John and what I loved about his work was that he doesn't do the
standard renovations and I think throughout the project I had some really clear ideas about the
materials and finishes that I wanted to bring to the project that pushed John into a new space
and perhaps made him a little uncomfortable but I think the outcome speaks for itself.
For me as an architect I'm most proud that I think Jac and Oscar and their family really
like living here I think my favourite part of the project is sitting in the
lounge room looking through the glass down the courtyard out to the street.