hamilton courtyard house

Built

2015 - 2020

Located in a suburb retaining much of it’s single story residential forms, Hamilton Courtyard House defies the typical pattern of extensions to an existing cottage. Instead of expanding the home upward and outward it utilises the twin blocks to reclaim what was once a driveway into and central courtyard oasis. Expressing a comfortable connection between traditional and contemporary becomes a key element of the experience of the home.

The street frontage shows the traditional cottage sympathetically supported by a new timber silhouette located where the previous cottage (that was not structurally suitable for retention) once stood.

The narrow plan of the traditional cottages  footprint is used to advantage. Celebrating the landscape in between has provided focus, light and fresh air in the central rooms of a cottages not traditionally possible on these sorts of lot.

The retained cottage houses the bedrooms in the retained volumes whilst the new living areas provide a north oriented unifier to the once divided structures offering a generosity of connections that allow this family of six an ease of comfortable togetherness in a space that can be opened to feel like a covered bridge between the backyard and courtyard landscapes.