‘It is my strong belief that all architecture should be somewhat “vernacular” and of a place,’ Mima Architects principal Jemima Manton says.

This ethos shines bright in her redesign of a Newport penthouse apartment, which feels perfectly grounded within its relaxed coastal setting, nestled amongst Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

With sandy limestone floors and eclectic interiors, the material palette takes its cues directly from the landscape to create a more personalised take on the typical coastal aesthetic that blurs the boundaries between inside and out.

Using summer motifs like ‘salted pistachio sorbet’ and her client’s boat, a Nimbus 365 Coupé, for inspiration, Jemima also looked to the work of Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi — known for her interpretation of Brazilian tropical modernism.

‘I enjoy how she makes hard, rough materials homely and uncomplicated,’ she adds.

This renovation focused on creating a similar atmosphere. In the kitchen, a coffee and sand-coloured tile forms a durable, checkered splashback set within pistachio-coloured joinery. Aubergine is hidden inside the cupboards as a playful nod to the actual pistachio nut.

A robust stainless-steel bench, brass fittings, terracotta tiles, and Venetian plaster on the ceilings further emphasise the home’s earthy character. Metallic accents throughout are a subtle reference to the client’s nautical lifestyle and regular fishing trips, while the powder room features Cole & Son Acquario fish wallpaper and ancient reef marble.

‘There is a high level of craftsmanship and handmade components within the project. We wanted something that would age well within the harsh environment.’

With strict controls over the highly regulated Class 2 building, the apartment layout was slightly reorganised around a large central spine of joinery that serves the kitchen, living and master bedroom, maximising storage space. Builder Luke Ziman of Iceberg Enterprises was also instrumental in managing ongoing negotiations with the strata group on site.

‘Good design follows good planning. You can dress walls with expensive materials, but if the plan doesn’t work, it will always feel funny,’ Jemima adds.

However, the project’s real excellence lies in its rejection of what Jemima calls the ‘standard high-end Sydney apartment playbook’.

‘Where others reach for polish and technology, Newport Apartment pursues warmth, robustness and longevity.’

The solid walnut joinery will patina with use; the brass and nickel fittings will improve over time; everything has been calibrated to feel better in ten years than it did on day one.

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Hidden in the laneway of an existing home in Sydney’s inner west, Denj Lane by Carter Williamson Architects showcases how even the smallest of spaces can play a meaningful part in shaping our cities.

‘The clients came to us wanting to transform the existing garage into something more meaningful than a purely utilitarian structure,’ Carter Williamson Architects principal Ben Peake says.

Before the intervention, the space was a fairly typical service corridor common throughout Sydney’s inner suburbs: overlooked and largely disconnected from the life of the neighbourhood, despite being part of the public realm.

‘In Sydney, laneways are often treated purely as service infrastructure, but when you spend time in them, they can actually be incredibly social places with kids playing, neighbours talking, and planting spilling out into the public domain.’

This untapped potential formed the basis for a flexible studio and guest space above the garage that can support different uses over time.

Built from concrete, the studio with masonry and metal elements reflects the ‘toughness’ of its urban environment. The building also embraces colour across its two-storey facade, featuring a green roller door that opens to reveal the carport and adjacent lawn.

Stairs lead to the studio above, where concrete forms curve to hold steel-framed windows with integrated planter boxes, draping greenery over the exterior. The culmination of these gestures helps soften the building’s relationship with the laneway, providing a ‘more welcoming edge’ to its surroundings.

The compact floor plan is organised to maximise space and natural light. The bathroom, complete with a curved shower, is nestled into the programming of the staircase, while the kitchen reveals peach-toned joinery. A sliding door conceals the sleeping quarters, ensuring the studio can be activated as a workspace, guest house, or anything else the family might require in future.

‘There’s a generosity to it that feels important. Even though it’s a very small building, it still contributes something to the public realm,’ Ben says.

Denj Lane’s biggest success lies in its adaptive reuse of underutilised land. As Ben explains, ‘Rather than expanding outward, the project demonstrates how small-scale infill can contribute additional usage and flexibility within existing neighbourhood.’

It’s this kind of thinking that could help unlock a more sustainable approach to urban density, one small intervention at a time.

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It took 20 years for the sustainable transformation of this double-fronted Victorian to come to fruition.

Michelle Bennett and illustrator Michael Weldon bought their house in Seddon back in 2004. The property was in bad shape, but it was in a great location, and there was an overarching ‘good energy’ that compelled them to make it their family home.

‘We renovated it straight after buying, but we didn’t have much of a budget at the time so we couldn’t do all of the things we would have liked to do, like double glazing,’ Michelle says.

For the next two decades, the family grappled with a few flaws, namely due to the home’s comfort and energy performance. Poor insulation meant it often felt cold, forcing them to run up a hefty gas bill in winter. The foundations had also shifted, creating further draughts and dust that filtered through cracks between doors and window frames.

By 2020, Michelle and Michael decided it was time to upgrade their elegant house, approaching designers Altereco and Nido Building Group for the project.

The brief was to add all the things they missed the first time around: double glazing, all-electric appliances, solar panels, and extend the house for a bit more space for entertaining in the kitchen and dining room.

‘We wanted to do our bit for the environment and also reduce our energy bills,’ Michelle explains.

As with many sustainable renovations, the transformation was extensive. Beyond the charming facade, the front two rooms were retained and retrofitted with new insulation and floorboards.

However, the rest of the building had to be rebuilt, embracing passive house principles that helped bring the house’s original 2.3-star NatHERS rating to an impressive 6.8 out of 10 — impressively close to the minimum standard of 7 that’s now expected for brand new builds in Victoria.

This process also inspired the family to go one step further, installing a home battery: ‘We were already having so much work done, we thought we may as well get it all done in one go. Although it was expensive, we’re really glad we got the battery, mainly because it allows us to power our home almost entirely by the sun,’ Michelle says. ‘We’re saving between $2000 and $3000 a year.’

The more surprising bonus is how the home’s atmosphere has changed. Michelle and Michael were surprised at just how quiet and peaceful the interiors have become, thanks to the new double-glazed windows and insulation. Best of all, it’s comfortable now in every season, aided by ceiling fans and efficient split-system air-conditioning units.

‘For much of the year, we don’t even need to turn the heating or cooling on. And when we do, often one unit is enough for the entire house,’ she says.

There can be a sense of trepidation about the varying levels of success when embarking on a sustainable renovation of an older house. But for Michelle, Michael and their daughter Jeannie (16), it was well worth the wait.

‘If you have the time, energy and means, I’d say just go for it,’ she adds.

‘I found the process daunting at times, but I’m so glad we made the change. It’s definitely improved our lives.’

Learn how to electrify your home with AGL’s Electrify Now™ tool. Estimate your potential savings on energy bills or running costs and find out about available rebates, payback period and connect with their trusted installer network.

Disclosure: AGL did not supply the products or services featured in this article. The energy savings and outcomes described reflect this household’s specific renovation, system size tariff and usage, and individual results will vary.

Josh Reed and Meg O’Halloran are the vintage sellers behind Way Back When — their side hustle that sources furniture pieces mostly from the mid-century era.

It comes as little surprise then that the couple have long dreamed of living in a similar-style home.

‘There’s something about the quiet confidence of mid-century design. It feels timeless without trying too hard, and that’s something we’ve always connected with,’ says Josh.

‘Owning a home like this felt like the perfect extension of everything we’d already been sourcing, and now a perfect backdrop for all of our favourite finds. Looking back, it almost feels like we were collecting for a home that we didn’t yet know existed.’

While technically not from the mid-century era, Josh and Meg’s 1978 unit in Ivanhoe shares many of the same design qualities that defined the period.

‘As soon as we walked through the front door, we both looked at each other and knew it was something special. The exposed brick and beams, timber panelling, and beautiful natural light immediately won us over,’ says Josh.

‘As first homebuyers, we never imagined we’d end up in a home like this. We weren’t looking for the biggest house or the newest renovation — we were looking for somewhere with soul that suited our current stage of life.’

According to neighbours, the home was built by local builder Ron Elliot, who only constructed homes within view of the Ivanhoe Town Hall clock.

In addition to its mid-century-like features, the home has generous proportions and a thoughtful connection between rooms.

‘One of the biggest reasons we fell in love with it was how original it remained. It felt like stepping back in time in the best possible way,’ says Meg.

The couple moved into their unit just four weeks before these images were taken, but already it feels like home. ‘Because we’d spent years collecting furniture beforehand, many pieces already had a place waiting for them,’ explains Josh.

Filled with 1970s furniture, contemporary art, and colourful accessories, the house looks playful, without competing with original features.

Josh and Meg’s favourite pieces are the 1970s made in Melbourne modular lounge (sourced with the plastic covers and tags still on!) and Italian 1970s chrome chairs that always attract compliments.

Eventually, the couple hope to sympathetically renovate the bathrooms, add a butler’s pantry, and update the landscaping, all with the goal of improving the house, without removing what makes it unique.

Meg says the home is the perfect reflection of the couple, who are natural collectors and value quality over quantity.

‘Buying this place as first homebuyers felt incredibly special because we weren’t just purchasing a house – it’s an extension of our passion,’ she says.

‘Our aim is to show that a home can feel elevated, fun, and contemporary without a big renovation or the latest, greatest furniture — just thoughtful choices and pieces with a story.’

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For Topology Studio director Darren Kaye, renovating this 1890s terrace in Albert Park for his octogenarian clients was almost like tailoring an old suit.

Located on a corner site at the end of a row of terraces, the building was still beautiful and well crafted. But having moved into the elegant Victorian 26 years ago, the owners found certain spaces no longer fit their needs.

Faced with the dilemma of whether to move on or invest in adapting their house for accessibility, the clients decided on the latter.

‘Like a faithful old suit that needs re-tailoring, or a pair of shoes to be resoled, this house required alterations and repairs,’ Darren says of the house, which bears the name Eleanor, printed in glass above the side entrance.

‘Threading a lift into the house was the project catalyst, generating a reconfiguration of spaces to simplify flow, and support intimacy and care.’

In addition to the external heritage controls in place, the brief was stringent about no additions or changes to the existing building, which forced Topology to work within the existing footprint.

While the facade has been repaired and restored to its former glory, the internal floor plan has been completely reconfigured.

On the ground floor, an awkward circulation path that ran straight through the middle of the house — dubbed the ‘train carriage effect’ by the owners — was resolved by readjusting the hallway to the northern edge.

Removing an existing bathroom also made way for the new lift, as the old, coiled timber staircase was spliced and ‘re-tailored’, fitting the existing handrail onto the newly raised balusters, crafted to match the original.

‘The principles to retain, repair, salvage, reuse, and upgrade where possible minimised construction waste, costs, and volume of new materials,’ Darren says.

‘Thermally, the house has been extensively upgraded for comfort and sustainability. Existing windows have been double glazed, with bulk insulation added to floors and ceilings.’

Drawing inspiration from the Victorian home’s stately material palette, blackbutt timber features throughout, including across the parquetry floors, doors, joinery, and new handrails.

The two bedrooms are divided by a central bathroom upstairs, where a luxurious red marble vanity ties in neatly with the exterior’s red iron lattice on the balcony — a quiet tribute to the home’s heritage.

Other accessible considerations include a timber deck with steps, and a handrail that connects flush with a sunken garden at street level. Provisions were also made for a future ramp to be installed at the rear, ensuring long-term access.

Topology’s renovations have unlocked a sense of safety, dignity, and extended the autonomy of its ageing occupants, while preserving the fabric of the century-old terrace for another 100 years.

‘We are most proud of undertaking extensive interior renovations within an existing heritage building and achieving an outcome that feels seamless,’ Darren says.

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In-land Gallery

In-land Gallery represents artists with practices rooted in a contemplative connection with the Australian landscape, including Melbourne-based photographic artist Christine Goerner. Her work lives in the space between memory and reality, translating nature’s intricate patterns, shifting textures, and moody palettes into evocative dreamscapes.

Ben Liney is another Melbourne-based In-land artist who works primarily with oil on canvas, using a restrained palette and detailed brushwork to explore the quiet presence of the landscape. His work invites viewers into a slower, more attentive way of seeing — one that mirrors the landscape’s quiet persistence and opens space for reflection.

Brunswick Street Gallery

Melbourne’s Brunswick Street Gallery has been consistently uncovering inspiring new talent since 2005.

Their artists on show at this year’s Affordable Art Fair include local contemporary oil painter and botanical artist Jessie Rose Ford, whose paintings distill moments of awe in the landscape through gesture, mark making, and a mesmerising use of golden colour.

Ruby Bovill’s paintings are likewise inspired by natural landscapes, encouraging quiet contemplation and reflection on connection to place, including memories growing up in Melbourne and regularly visiting the Great Ocean Road and Murray River.

Jules Bulleid is a contemporary landscape painter living in Western Australia. Her work draws on from her previous farming life and journeys through the outback, but will often develop into otherworldly interpretations.

Discover: Young Talent

Affordable Art Fair’s Discover: Young Talent platform celebrates the next generation of creative voices.

Among them is Anna Walsh, an emerging Australian artist based in Moama, NSW. Her work showcases detailed, hand-rendered designs that draw from the Australian landscape, particularly its unique flora, and highlight intricate patterns and textures referencing Anna’s background in textile design.

Ariella Weinmann is a Melbourne-based artist whose oil paintings quietly capture the beauty of everyday objects. Working primarily in still life, her compositions reference moments of familiarity, thoughtfully arranged to evoke a sense of stillness and balance.

Good Work Gallery

Sydney’s Good Work Gallery believe materials are more than just a means to an end — they’re storytellers in their own right. The gallery’s artists are therefore united by a shared passion for materiality and form, challenging traditional genres, and inviting audiences to engage with art on a tactile level.

Claire Mooney explores the metaphorical possibilities of geometric pattern and colour through paint and textiles. Using collage as a starting point, she fragments and realigns patterns intuitively, which are then translated into paint and thread, and unified through colour, where multiple layers of repetitive brushstrokes or threads are refined to create complex colour relationships.

Oddball Gallery

Oddball Gallery is an artist-led initiative representing contemporary female and gender diverse Australian artists.

Among them is Sydney-based ceramic artist Laura Braich of Mennt, who transforms clay into dynamic tiled canvases, inspired by the movement and textures found in nature. Through mark making, glazing and the application of oxides, Laura’s work invites viewers to experience the ephemeral movement of light across her ceramic surfaces.

Loam

The name of Loam refers to fertile soil — a meeting point of different elements that allow something new to grow. The gallery similarly brings together distinct artistic practices grounded in lived experience, material exploration, and cultural perspectives.

Sydney-based Loam artist Heidi Lai creates expressive oil paintings that capture the fleeting beauty of everyday life. Born in Hong Kong, she’s inspired by the vibrant connection between people and their surroundings depicted through bold brushstrokes and rich textures.

Stevens Street Gallery

Sunshine Coast-based Stevens Street Gallery is a roaming gallery dedicated to championing local artists through thoughtfully curated pop-up exhibitions, fairs and an online gallery.

Among their artists is Sunshine Coast-based painter Shane Hastings of Iluka Creative, who draws on his experience living between the forest and the beach. Rather than documenting specific views, Shane generally paints from memory, allowing colour, movement, and texture to carry the feeling of a place.

Fellow Sunshine Coast-artist Jasmine Veronique is best known for her oil painting, charcoal and coloured pencil works. She primarily focuses on florals and still life as a subject matter, delving into the symbolism and beauty of flowers — a subject often associated with strength and new beginnings.

M.A.C. Studio Gallery

M.A.C. Studio Gallery is a cohesive group of artists rooted in fine art led by Melbourne-based artists Yeonjoo Park and Amy Kim.

Yeonjoo’s own abstract, emotion-driven landscapes are an exploration of the beauty and presence found in nature’s most fleeting moments, from the soft glow of dawn, to the rich hues of dusk and intensity of sunlight at its peak. By simplifying the landscape through omission, she aims to convey inspiration in an abstract form, leaving space for the viewer to imagine freely and connect with the scene in their own way.

Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation

Founded in 1985, Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation is a 100% Aboriginal-owned, not-for-profit art centre in Yuendumu — a remote community located almost 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

The centre plays an important role in preserving and sharing Warlpiri culture through vibrant and meaningful artworks, including those by Alicka Napanangka Brown and Gisella Napaljarri Dickson.

Solenne Studio

Bringing together the practices of three artists, Solenne Studio explores the emotional and atmospheric relationship between landscape, memory and perception.

Tracy Strange’s work, in particular, is inspired by her childhood in the western district of Victoria, and her life now in Mosquito Point on the Gippsland Lakes, which is only accessible by boat. A romantic, instinctive and self-taught painter, she works quickly with a variety of techniques such as washing, rubbing, dragging and reworking. Tracy’s delicate oil works are both dreamy and temporal, often referencing cold and misty mornings.

Victorian Artists Society

Founded in 1870 by pioneering impressionist painters, the Victorian Artists Society (VAS) has been among Australia’s leading art institutions for over 150 years. As a registered charity, the organisation is dedicated to fostering artistic excellence and making art accessible to all through generous support of donors and volunteers.

TJ Murphy is a realist artist and tutor working primarily with oil paint. His artistic philosophy centres on observation and the understanding that visual perception is different from photographic reproduction.

Painter and teacher Gregory R Smith is a past president of VAS. The constant challenge to gain a greater understanding of how and what we see, is a driving force behind his work. As an artist and teacher, developing greater visual knowledge allows Gregory’s artwork to have a purpose — one of education. Every painting is a new lesson.

Salt Contemporary

Salt Contemporary exhibits a dynamic range of work from career painters, printmakers, and sculptors housed in a historically significant former drapery store in Queenscliff, on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula.

Artists showing at the Affordable Art Fair include painter Jill Noble who is inspired by landscape compositions — utilising shape, form and the spaces in between.

Kay Gibson draws on experiences bushwalking, sketching outdoors, and observing the natural environment across drawing, painting and printmaking. She often endeavours to marry materials with the subject, such as works created on paper that are blindly embossed with endemic plants, or paintings combined with traditional etching methods.

Natalie Anderson’s representational oil paintings are often framed around the horizon line where the ocean meets the land or the sky. Her focus shifts between the untamed beauty and strength of the ocean — its powerful waves, swirling tides, sea foam, and the sun reflecting off the surface — to inland landscapes depicting infinite skies above hills, rolling grassy plains, and crop fields.

Affordable Art Fair Melbourne
Thursday August 27 – Sunday August 30 2026
Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton VIC
Tickets on sale now

There are five key trends dominating the bathroom architecture and design space in Australia right now, as seen in our favourite bathrooms of 2026: pink marble, pale blue, brick-look tiles, neutral terrazzo, and small square tiles.

These bathrooms range in style from serene sanctuaries with nature views, to rich spaces characterised by deep colour and a variety of textures.

First up, pink marble is a look we’re seeing everywhere, as evidenced in Sorrento House by Victoria Merrett Architects where it is paired with restrained timber cabinetry and leafy views, and the Joyne Showroom by R&Co.Design.Studio and WLKR Studio that leans fully into the pink look with Breccia Pernice Marble by CDK Stone with complementary fizzy terrazzo floors and fully tiled walls.

Another emerging colour trend we’re seeing a lot of in the bathroom is pale blue. Try it as a calming accent colour – like the tiled wall paired with subtly textured stone in The Atrium by Anna Carin, or applied more liberally across both painted and tiled surfaces, as seen in the 1940s-inspired TRW Terrace bathroom by Studio Manifold.

Terrazzo is an enduring trend, and right now, we’re seeing it in mostly classic, neutral-toned bathrooms. Rather than an overly busy or colourful terrazzo used across entire walls, designers are leaning into sparing uses and earthy-toned varieties featuring grey, brown, green, and blue speckles. Add a pop of colour like trending chartreuse as seen in Eltham 139 by Demardi, Levan Design, and Tiano Studio above a Arterrazzo – Rosaio by Artedomus benchtop (find it in The Design Files Magazine Issue 04), or keep the space classic with white tiles and timber cabinetry like Jindabyne home by Musa Studio.

Small to medium square tiles are the contemporary bathroom trend that keeps on giving, for their versatility and nod to mid-century modern interiors. We love a calming green tile (Capel Sound by Olaver Architecture) or rich burgundy (Joy Haus by Studio Shields) applied across an entire bathroom or powder room including the walls, floors and bath, but square tiles are equally impactful when contained to the one surface in a more neutral tone (Brise Soleil – Revisited by Carter Williamson).

More commonly used flowing from indoor to outdoor living spaces, brick-look tiles are increasingly making their way into bathrooms. We’re seeing these tiles pop up most in spaces that feel visually connected to the outdoors through the use of terracotta or rust tones and natural timbers. For example, Chewton House by Folkal Built and Bush Studio draws on the colours of its surrounding regional site using Cotto Manetti Satinato Sannini terracotta tiles by Artedomus and subtly textured Lisbon Taupe Tiles by Tiento.

Find the products featured in this story and more in The Design Files Directory

When Fleur Harris and her family moved into their 1908 home in Melbourne’s inner north west five years ago, the garden was unremarkable and overgrown with weeds.

But a single photograph, shared by the previous owner, revealed what had once been: a lush, cottage-style garden lovingly maintained by his mother decades earlier. This image became a quiet guiding light.

As Fleur began clearing weeds and nurturing the garden, dormant plants slowly reemerged, hidden beneath years of neglect.

‘It felt like uncovering a memory,’ she says.

Following a major renovation of the house in 2023, Fleur invited garden designer Ashley James to help reimagine the front garden and side way.

Their collaboration began organically — a friendship sparked on Instagram and fuelled by a shared visual language.

‘I was instantly drawn to Fleur’s work,’ Ashley says. ‘It felt like her paintings and my gardens were speaking the same language.’

Rather than formal plans and presentations, the design process unfolded organically over cups of tea at Fleur’s kitchen table.

The brief was simple but poetic; a garden that felt magical and immersive, a place to wander, pick flowers, and truly interact with. And, because her design studio looks out over this space, it also needed to nurture creativity and inspire Fleur’s artwork.

Sitting on an inner-suburban block of 580 square metres, the front garden is modest in size, but it has been carefully designed to feel abundant, without overwhelming the home.

A solid bluestone path leads directly to the front door, grounding the garden and paying homage to the home’s history. From there, the mood softens. Organic bluestone steppers weave through the plantings, looping through a series of little garden rooms. These winding paths are enveloped with Dichondra repens (kidney weed), forming a lush green carpet that blurs the line between hardscape and planting.

A former cracked bitumen sideway has been transformed into a secret garden laneway, connecting the front and back gardens via a narrow but joyful passage thick with greenery.

‘We didn’t let its size limit us,’ Fleur says. ‘It feels like a hidden path you might stumble upon by accident.’

Layered in and around the garden paths is a romantic palette of cottage-style perennials, chosen to create fullness and seasonal change without tipping into chaos.

‘It’s about balance,’ Ashley explains. ‘Enough height and softness to feel abundant, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming.’

Fleur, ever experimental, adds her own layer of spontaneity, scattering flower seeds and allowing plants to self-select where they thrive.

Personal stories are woven throughout the planting. Each year, Fleur grows heirloom poppies originally from her family home, planted long ago by her late father. Their fleeting, breathtaking blooms are a ritual of remembrance she looks forward to each season.

Small, whimsical details — like a tiny fairy apothecary hidden among the foliage — echo the imaginative world of Fleur’s illustrations. In fact, her Garden of Dreams wallpaper is composed entirely of flowers illustrated from the front garden.

Despite a strong focus on enchantment and whimsy, practical considerations were not overlooked. Melbourne’s increasingly hot summers posed a challenge for Fleur’s preferred cottage-style plantings, so an underground irrigation system running on tank water was installed to help maintain the garden.

With its most recent stage having been planted in February 2025, the garden is already settling in beautifully.

For Ashley, the magic of this garden stems from its collaborative beginnings.

‘When an artist and a garden designer speak the same language, magic happens,’ he says. ‘It’s like stepping straight into one of Fleur’s paintings; soft, layered, nostalgic and very much alive. This garden was built like a story, and shaped by a friendship.’

An edited version of this story originally appeared in The Design Files Magazine Issue 04. Subscribe to the biannual print magazine here.

Smith and Carmody director Cameron Krone and his partner purchased their semi-detached cottage in Newtown back in 2005.

At 151 square metres, the site was small but suitable for the couple. And with a fresh bathroom and kitchen renovation completed by the prior owners, there was ‘no immediate need’ to renovate.

‘There was a great connection to the jungle of a yard, which we loved,’ Cameron says.

‘There was only one bedroom with a door, on the ground floor, along with a technically non-habitable bedroom in the attic. The front room was a thoroughfare to the spiral staircase, so it had limited function.’

But when their two (now teenage) children outgrew sharing the bedroom, it sparked a renovation. The site presented many challenges with a north-facing party wall, nine neighbouring properties, structural root zones, and limited site access.

‘All of these set very restrictive parameters, which meant that every square cm had to be considered,’ Cameron says.

To get the most out of the tight block, Cameron called on memories of the family’s trip to Japan in 2017 for inspiration; having visited buildings by Tadao Ando, and seen how the country generally approaches the configuration of smaller spaces.

These influences drove the home’s robust material palette — comprising concrete combined with grey cedar cladding outside — and a clever new configuration.

While the front two bedrooms were maintained, everything beyond the original gable end was demolished. Working with the slight slope of the property, the new addition was lowered to the ground floor, making way for a second storey with a split-level.

On the mezzanine, there’s a living space that doubles as a spare or a study, with the main bedroom and ensuite located upstairs. A central open staircase stitches the various level changes together, while the material palette shifts from the rendered brick walls to birch ply in the interiors upstairs.

‘The materials are all in a similar neutral hue but differ in texture. This gives more weight to textural difference between surfaces and allows objects in the space to be a focal point,’ Cameron says.

To maintain the canopy of trees in the backyard, they opted not to extend. Instead, they created a freestanding studio containing a living room nestled at the edge of the garden.

‘The two living spaces are detached — the connection is via stepping stones through the courtyard garden.’

It’s a clever solution that fills each room with natural winter sun, which comes flooding in from large highlight windows.

Best of all, the renovation unlocks all the amenity the family needed, without having to sacrifice their beloved jungle garden.

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Bridge to Terabithia is a much-loved children’s novel and adapted film where two schoolkids create an imaginary kingdom as their escape from everyday life.

While the emotive storyline might be famous for making people cry, the novel’s enchanted setting served as inspiration behind CplusC’s latest project: Terabithia House, a new home for a family of four in Sydney’s Northbridge.

The initial plan was to reimagine the clients’ existing Federation-era house, with a special focus on improved living spaces, energy efficiency, and sustainable design. But with immense modifications and high costs required to salvage the building’s poor condition, the renovation shifted to a total rebuild.

Instead, existing sandstone footings were salvaged and re-used for landscaping; original dry pressed bricks were salvaged for re-use; the Oregon roof structure was used for construction works.

‘Connection to the garden, the swimming pool and the views, whilst gaining access to sunlight and cross ventilation were the primary “must haves”,’ CplusC managing director and principal architect Clinton Cole says of the brief.

Starting from scratch also meant they could create a home that was a little bit extraordinary, with quirky features designed to bring the family together.

One of these is the butterfly-shaped, corrugated steel roof, which features an oculus cut that opens like an ‘eye to the sky’. This opening brings in natural light to the iridescent-tiled swimming pool below, conveniently located directly adjacent to the living area inside.

Stepping down into the kitchen and dining, sliding glass doors maximise views across the Middle Harbour, while a spiral yellow staircase leads up to the bedrooms on the third floor.

A series of circular windows throughout adds to the home’s whimsical personality, and there’s even a cargo net suspended above the pool — a playful detail CplusC often utilises in projects for young families.

‘It is perfectly placed to allow sunlight, play, reading and lounging space for the family and friends, and can be engaged with whether in adjacent spaces or below the netting,’ Clinton adds.

In addition to being energy self-sufficient with a 13.28-kilowatt solar system on the roof, and rainwater tanks with a total capacity of 10,000 litres, the house features a ‘second skin’ that filters in natural light and breezes. Lightweight fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) forms a translucent, jade-coloured privacy screen, enclosing the facade, walkways, and the immersive pool.

Terabithia House proves how a house doesn’t have to be simple to be sustainable. In fact, much like the fantastical kingdom of the same name, the house is a sanctuary for creativity, courage, and connection.

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