Lilyfield House
A family home in Sydney’s city-fringe suburb of Lilyfield. The design focused on a simple diagram, combining lateral structural walls running as sections along the length of the house to provide the opportunity of opening up side and rear walls to courtyards and gardens.
A commission for a single-family home in a dense, city-fringe Sydney suburb. The ongoing urban consolidation in Sydney has substantially challenged the notion of the single-family home. With an increasing number of apartments being built, and the increasing unaffordability of homes within easy commute to the city continues to put pressure on these inner-city suburbs to accommodate more on smaller blocks. Often in historically significant areas, building in these suburbs has becoming increasingly challenging but has produced interesting architectural responses and an increased recognition of the importance of local architects in the design of new interventions into these areas.
Sharing with our clients an interest in contemporary timber building, this house is designed to connect inside and outside through timber screens, verandas and cantilevering eaves that celebrate the best in contemporary timber building, through both traditional timber techniques and contemporary composite timber technology. The rear of the house, facing north-east and benefitting from Sydney’s benevolent climate and cooling, summer breezes, is designed to open to the backyard and extend the living spaces into the compact but all-important backyard landscape.
The two-storey house has several voids connecting downstairs with upstairs, promoting natural ventilation and cooling through passive design principles, minimizing the reliance on assisted cooling on all but the warmest summer days.
