Matthew Gribben Architecture on Lunchbox Architect

Matthew Gribben Architecture is a Sydney architecture practice based in Surry Hills.

Its Lunchbox projects show a talent for difficult sites. Five Courts House sits on a former builders' yard in inner Sydney, surrounded by a road, two lanes and nearly a dozen neighbouring properties. Designed for an older professional couple who wanted space to entertain and light-filled areas for painting and quilting, its introverted brick exterior hides a bright interior arranged around five secluded courtyards.

The Pohutukawa House stands on the foreshore of a wild New Zealand beach, on a site almost overgrown with mature pohutukawa trees. Their positions were closely mapped, and the house twists to occupy the residual space beside and beneath them, staying below the height of the canopy.

See Five Courts House and The Pohutukawa House on Lunchbox below.

Five Courts House's Introverted Design Overcomes Its Gritty Site

The brick exterior of Five Courts House belies its light-filled interior which surrounds five courtyards arranged around the perimeter.

The Pohutukawa House Twists and Contorts to Fit Between Existing Trees

The Pohutukawa House stands at the coastal foreshore of a wild beach on a site almost overgrown with mature Pohutukawa trees.