The client’s site contained an existing 1950’s beach shack of a lovely modest scale in a street of what would included similar houses before modern houses replaced them. The downside of much of this Queensland ‘shack’ architecture in the 1950’s was that the houses were not designed for the hot conditions (with small windows, no ventilation and no insulation). The relatively generous room sizes and ceiling heights of the eras prior to the 1950’s were lowered in the shacks, exacerbating the heat.

We kept the modest scale to the street, converted the garage into a living room (like many of the old houses this was placed on the most beneficial aspect, i.e. to the north) and opened up the bedrooms. At the rear we provided a new covered outdoor area as well as an upper bedroom that took advantage of the views and light. Below the new bedroom was a generous combined laundry and bathroom centred around a very special bath. We used large custom made poly-carbonate clad doors so that from the bath one looked out to the existing, very pleasant, established garden.

Sustainable features include all natural ventilation (the owner tells us that even the ceiling fan hasn’t been required during the recent summer), solar hot water and, importantly, retention and reuse of the existing building. Often this isn’t cost effective and it needs a commitment from the client and architect to pursue this path.