A striking modern house with a large, glowing angular window is set in a lush green backyard featuring a rock garden, outdoor dining, and surrounding trees under an overcast sky.

Yeronga House

Project type - Alteration and addition

Rejuvenating a Queenslander to be open, spacious and connected to the community

Steve and Fiona bought their post-war Queenslander house after the 2011 floods, knowing that it was within a flood area. The 1990s alterations and additions were poorly planned, compartmentalising the house and reducing light and airflow. This meant the west side of the house was hot, the rear was elevated high above the paved backyard, and the studio was rundown. The couple wanted to make the house more spacious and sustainable, with better light and ventilation, and to remove the studio and improve the use of the garden. We developed a three-stage plan for the renovation based on what made the most impact on daily life.

Stage one, we opened up the existing house for better light and airflow and introduced a series of decks and landscaping to better link the interior to the rear garden. Removing internal walls created a new breezeway that improves the use of space and promotes cross ventilation, eliminating the need for mechanical air conditioning.

We designed a new flexible ‘pod’ that concentrates the home office, recreation and guest room in one generous space in the back garden, separated from the house by a small external breezeway link. Celebrating Fiona’s love of sewing, the pitched roof is evocative of draped fabric. Large south-facing windows provide views of the garden, and a series of shutter doors on the eastern façade capture the morning sun and north-easterly breezes.

Stage two, we created a more welcoming entry and habitable front courtyard that establishes a better connection between the house and the street. A small gesture of public architecture, the openness of the front fence and integrated seat allows Steve and Fiona to have much greater interaction with the community, hosting their neighbours and engaging with passers-by.

We also addressed the site, collaborating with Steve to upgrade the front garden to a wicking bed system, and to transform the flood-prone backyard into a water-sensitive landscape with a bioretention pond that manages stormwater runoff.

Most recently, we finished the interior of the original house, renovating the two bathrooms and extending the kitchen, where the couple prepare meals with the bounty of produce grown in their front garden.

A woman walks through a bright, elevated room with white folding window panels, part of a contemporary house with a connected wooden deck overlooking a green yard and tall trees. — Side view of pod. Shutters oriented to the east allow control over sun and breezes.

A bright, modern open-plan room with high ceilings, large windows overlooking lush trees, furnished with a workspace, built-in bookshelves, an armchair, and a bed with a patterned blanket. — The new pod structure is a flexible space for hobbies and guests, flooded with natural light and air.

From a modern covered deck, two children and a dog relax on a verdant backyard lawn, bordered by trees and a house with wide open glass doors. — View to the backyard.

A modern white shelving unit with dark wood trim holds a white sewing machine on its counter, with books, a potted plant, and a woven basket on shelves above, beside a window revealing outdoor greenery. — Custom joinery in the pod.

An airy modern room with dark wood floors, expansive windows framing lush outdoor greenery, an integrated workspace, a cozy armchair, and white built-in shelving. — View inside the pod with large windows opening towards the back garden.

Two women engage with lush plants in white raised garden beds, beneath a dark-framed pergola and beside a rustic wooden gate in a sunny backyard. — View from the street. The front fence and planter structure is designed to provide privacy and a sense of entry to the house while still maintaining a connection to the street and allowing for chance interactions with neighbours.

A dark-sided house with a grey roof is partially visible behind a white pergola topped with a retractable striped awning, framed by a dense green hedge and various trees. — View of front garden shading structure from the street.

A modern house entrance with wooden steps and a deck, framed by lush green landscaping and a gravel path leading to a white slatted pergola. — View of breezeway on western side. Shading on the windows helps keep the house cool from the afternoon sun

A modern kitchen with a large wooden island and hanging plants seamlessly extends to a sunlit deck where people relax and a dog sits, surrounded by a lush green backyard. — New kitchen, completed as stage 3 of this house. Large glass sliding doors stack past the opening to achieve a seamless transition from the kitchen to the deck and beyond.

A modern interior featuring white bookshelves filled with books and plants, a sewing machine on a counter, and an armchair with a patterned cushion, all viewed through vertical room dividers. — View of joinery in the pod.

A monochrome residential scene of a narrow brick path between a house with white windows and a smaller building, bordered by dense trees and yard clutter. — View of the western side of the old house - lots of windows facing the hot western sun with no shading meant that the house got very hot in the afternoons.

In black and white, a traditional high-set wooden house with a verandah stands next to a smaller shed where laundry hangs to dry, surrounded by a grassy garden. — View of the old house from the backyard. The shed on the left was a dark and hot space, and the main house lacked a connection to the backyard.

A weathered shed with a white door and corrugated iron roof stands in a monochrome backyard, surrounded by drying laundry, a wooden fence, various garden items including a bench, and dense trees, with a house and railing visible on the right. — View of old house and shed, which was replaced with the new pod.

Architectural site plan illustrating a residential floor plan surrounded by a light blue water feature, dense shaded trees, and neighboring buildings, all on a grid. — Site plan, with overland flow path shown in blue
*Click the image to open it in a lightbox.*

Architectural floor plan of a house with a legend, showing interior spaces like kitchen, living, bedrooms, bathrooms, and laundry, alongside exterior elements such as decks, garden areas, and a garage. — Floorplan.
*Click the image to open it in a lightbox.*

A hand-drawn architectural elevation depicts a modern house with a gabled roof and an angled glass facade, nestled in a landscaped setting with faint figures visible indoors. — Front (street) elevation

Team

Tim Bennetton and Liza Turkevych

Collaborators

Structural engineer: AD Structure
Construction: Greg Thornton Constructions and Charles Warren Constructions
Landscape architecture: Steve Clark Water Technology, Stuart Anderson

Year Built

Stage 1: 2017, Stage 2: 2018, Stage 3: 2024

Location

Yeronga, Brisbane

Country

Turrbal and Jaggera peoples

Photographer

Shantanu Starick

Awards

Queensland Architecture Awards 2018
State Award for Residential Architecture, Additions & Alterations
State Commendation for Sustainable Architecture
State Award, for Sustainable Architecture
Brisbane Region Commendation for Residential Architecture, Additions & Alterations

Houses Awards 2018
Shortlist, for House Alteration & Addition over 200m2

Press

Green Magazine, Issue 65, January 2019, ‘Tailor-Made’
Habitus Living, 2019, ‘A Light-Filled Transformation’
Sanctuary Magazine, Issue 60, August 2022, ‘Going with the Flow,’