What was fundamentally missing with the original house was the connection to the outdoors and
orientation to the sun. So by opening up the back with a series of French doors we
created a visual connection to the garden and got a lot more light into the house.
I'm Chris Adams from Pohio Adams Architects this is the Queen's Park
house that we renovated recently we're in Queens Park a suburb close to Sydney
City and right next to Centennial Park and houses situated on Gadigal Country.
So the house that we renovated hadn't been touched since the 1980s it was characteristic of these
types of houses where the front part remained reasonably original the back had a cheap two-story
addition that gave a very poor connection to the rear yard the owners came to us with a brief for
a robust family home so functionality was key and they wanted to maximize what was
inherently good about the property and absolutely maximizing the potential of the Parkside location
At the front of the house we have two formal living spaces that look out to the park and on
the other side we have the master suite and a very luxuriously proportioned ensuite bathroom.
The key functional parts of the house are accommodated in the rear addition so we
gutted the shell of what was here replanned it entirely moving the staircase to create a open
plan space for kitchen, living, dining that opens directly to the backyard.
Within the joinery wall that runs through that space we've concealed
a powder room and then a scullery laundry coming off the kitchen.
Upstairs we've got two further bedrooms and a kids living space along with another bathroom,
because the house was in reasonable condition it was easy to reinstate
missing original detail and work out how to restore the front part of the house.
Within the interior of the house the pallet of materials is pretty simple we've chosen the
black floors to provide the continuity between the old and the new part of the house we have simple
Oak joinery running through the main living spaces because it's robust it ages nicely and
the timber just gives a warmth and comfort to those spaces aged brass is used for details and
handles and hardware throughout and handmade Moroccan tiles for bathrooms in the kitchen.
The key to making the house functional was to create a simple open plan living,
kitchen, dining area at the back to provide the connection through to the rear yard.
So for this project we've used a full suite of appliances we have
integrated french door fridge as well as a cool drawer in the kitchen island
we've got the full-size dishwasher a pair of 60-centimetre ovens,
gas cooktop and the extractor hood. In the laundry we've got the washer and dryer.
What particularly appeals about the design of the appliances is the way
the fridges integrate and the simplicity of the controls on the other appliances.
So we're very concerned with how streamlined everything is
and to be able to achieve that is invaluable.
Pohio Adams Architects have worked with Fisher and Paykel over a long length of time on many
projects and really like the design direction that the company's taken over the last few years.
So for this project one of the key things is the park setting and the long sight lines that you
have through and across the park so in conjunction with the landscaping which we've used to screen
the road that separates the house from the park we've kept the centre corridor running all the
way through the space so from the backyard all the way through you can look out to the parklands
and it's a key view from the formal living spaces in the front of the house.
The living spaces at the front have particularly charming coffered ceilings we've replicated
cornices where they've been missing and kept all of the traditional detailing.
Working in heritage areas and with heritage houses always
carries challenges and provides quite a lot of constraint for the project
but we use that as a positive to inform the design and we're trying to work very sympathetically
to tease out the inherent great quality characteristic of the 1880s and Federation style.
So what I like most about a project like this is the transformation of
the house so being able to open it up in an elegant way, connect it with the old
charming original part of the house has just transformed the way the clients can live here.