Site & Constraints
A private, yet light-filled coastal home is the perfect fit for a retired couple, with plenty of room for visitors.
Bringing a sense of space and plenty of natural light to a narrow block is tough, but clever design and engineering make it possible.
A samurai's armour inspires the form and materials of this unique townhouse development, bringing a bit of Japan to the suburbs.
Materials are reused in new and unusual ways in this renovation, instilling the home with unique personality - even the new parts!
The dramatic timber ceiling sails over new living spaces and outside, shading the home but retaining the best views.
A new opening with integrated seating transforms this home from dated colonial-style, to modern, minimal and cool. What a difference!
A double-storey addition sensitively extends the original home, unfurling from the original roofline to create a light-filled home.
Having lived in the area for 45 years, this downsizer was reluctant to leave. Instead, she built the perfect home in her backyard!
These townhouses challenge the norm and prove you can develop suburban sites without ignoring the character of the neighbourhood.
Queenslander-style homes capture breezes and create shaded, naturally cool living spaces. This addition takes it to the next level.
To grab light without taking over the backyard, this addition pops its head over the original home, saying peekaboo to the street!
Instead of demolishing this unit, the architects reimagined it, transforming it into a modern and light-filled 3-bedroom home.
Inspired by a nearby converted factory, this home brings its own spin to the saw-tooth roofline and the inspiration doesn't stop there.
An efficiently-planned rear addition to this narrow house creates space and light to grow a family without losing the home's charm.
This environmentally-considerate home is carefully planned to ensure it's compact yet spacious: the least house necessary.
With exposed structure and a galley-style kitchen, this renovation takes its cues from the economical and practical fit-out of a ship.
In an area with challenging heritage overlays, Splice House fits an impressive modern addition within the allowable setbacks...
Courtyard House makes the most of a narrow, inner-city site, creating an urban oasis for a family of five now and into the future.
With modular, off-site construction you can remove the headaches of extending your home and still end up with a beautiful result.
This tropical home locks down when it's not being used, but when it's open, it embraces the natural landscape in every direction...
The secret to this Tiny Haus's success? Creating easy access to the outdoors, so 32 square metres doesn't feel like 32 square metres.
The small, pokey and often dark spaces of many older homes don’t provide the space young families need, but you can change that...
Oriented for passive heating and cooling and taking in stunning views of the landscape, Paddock House feels right at home in the bush.
Celebrating an incredible rural site, this eco-friendly home opens up to the views, basks in the sun and collects all its own water.
The carefully crafted folds of the ancient art of origami create something new and unexpected. It's a similar story with this reno...
When it comes to selling, you want to maximise the value of your home. Here are 5 tips to help you nail it.
A new covered deck is the showpiece of this home's transformation, drawing its owners out to enjoy the backyard.
What this home lacks in a dining room is made up for with a fun, communal island bench for seven: a perfect way to host a dinner party.
With a folded roof form and charred timber cladding, Pleated House has plenty of flair for its design-conscious owners.
If the stress of renovating isn't enough for you, here's a way to step it up a gear: base your deadline around the arrival of a baby!
Lean-tos aren't renowned for their good design, but rethinking the classic design led to a functional and flexible home for this family.
Living in the inner-city means trading space for convenience. This project shows you, that trade-off isn't so bad.
The clever design for this challenging site allows the home to deal with the threat of bushfire, while still taking in the views.
Can a house be both a cosy refuge and open to the outdoors to create a breezy outdoor room? In this case, it can!
How do you extend an old cottage which used to belong to the client's mother? By reinterpreting the original cottage, that's how...
A creative design for two new townhouses defies many of the qualities of these types of developments to create bright and breezy homes.
If your backyard doesn't face north, create a long side yard instead so you can enjoy the benefits of natural light and passive design.
A surprising, angular addition pops out of the rear of this home, but it does more than just look dramatic...
With an incredible site just one street from the beach and close to the city, these architects built their ideal family home.
A modern beach house design replaces the ageing cottage on a property that has been in the family for over 50 years.
The lace-like screen protecting the rear of this home is a way to tie old and new together while also dealing with practicalities.
Like an annexe attached to the side of this solid home, BENT Annexe is an open-plan living area that feels more like a garden room.
Previously cut off from the backyard by a hefty level change, this new addition flows effortlessly between inside and out.
Friends said they were brave to buy their home. But who's laughing now after a breezy makeover transforms this 1970s hot mess.
A relatively modest-sized home feels more spacious and comfortable thanks to its connection to and interaction with five garden spaces.
Increasingly, multi-generational families are choosing to live together. In this case, how do we design homes which cater for everyone?
Dealing with a narrow block can be a challenge. But, as with any challenge, creative thinking can produce incredible results.
As soon as you enter the front door of this 1950s home, you are drawn to the light and openness of the new, rear addition.
By designing a new, open-plan addition to this heritage home, the owner has a light-filled space to inspire his creativity.
Buying an extra slice of land from the owners' corporation enabled this 1960s one-bedroom unit to become a modern three-bedroom home.
This family were miserable in their south-facing living areas, but thanks to a clever addition, their home is now light and bright.
A south-facing backyard can feel like a curse, but an unconventional roofline could come to the rescue to let direct natural light in.
A strong visual and physical connection to the garden is achieved without significantly altering this inner-city terrace.
It's not the size of an addition that counts, it's the functionality it adds to your home. This micro addition achieves hefty results.
For Victorians, Democracy Sausage Day is just around the corner. But this is not just an article for Victorians...
The careful siting of this new home helps it take full advantage of the sun and embrace a beautiful, bushy site.
Extending heritage homes respectfully is a challenge. Allowing this addition to recede into the shadows was the sensitive approach.
We might turn to psychologists or drugs to improve our mental health, but are we missing a solution that's closer to home?
New additions help this home to perform more like a traditional Queenslander, helping it fit perfectly with its site and climate.
Settling into regular life takes some adjustment for a fly-in-fly-out worker who spends a month away from home. This new home helps.
The good qualities of both old and new are highlighted by creating an addition which is the binary opposite of the original.
On a tight, south-facing site, the various spaces of this addition are expertly arranged to ensure maximum benefit with minimal fuss.
Living near the beach has its pros and cons. A great beach house needs to embrace the sunshine while protecting from cold ocean winds.
The aperture-like addition to this heritage home carefully frames the best views and lets light into the new living spaces.
We can build better houses in the suburbs, the houses we featured this week show us how.
From the street, this looks like a house with no windows, but once inside you realise it's the exact opposite...
Sub-tropical climates require a special approach to design to ensure they are comfortable in the sticky summers and the cool winters.
When the inhabitants of your suburban fringe block include a number of old native trees, mimic their style and go timber all over.
A new addition prioritises light and a connection to the garden, transforming this 1940s house into an uplifting and modern home.
Once the excitement wore off, the fear started to set in. I pored over the floor plan, convinced there wasn't enough space...
This modern addition is more like a supporting actor, allowing the charm and beauty of the original home to shine through.
Oikos, ancient Greek for 'home', is a short-term rental demonstrating luxury is achievable if we down-size our ambitions.
At this minimal home, the space in between the living area and bedrooms is just as crucial as the spaces themselves.
A house that was once a post office felt frustratingly disconnected from the outdoors has been transformed into a breezy beach house.
Working with what was already there to create a modern family home had its challenges on this bushland site in the Blue Mountains.
Having greater rental profits comes down to a very simple equation: more rent and fewer complications. Here are a few tips...
Instead of sacrificing their productive garden, plants are encouraged to grow up the walls of this clever backyard studio.
This home takes advantage of its location near the Botanic Gardens to create a living area which feels like an extension of the garden.
This warm, textural home creates a connection to place, captures views and creates a humble retreat from the elements (and the city).
This home holds special memories for the architect, Pat Jost, making it important to retain the elements that fill it with character.
This home had good bones, but forty years of use left it feeling tired. A clever facelift offers a fresh start for its new owners.
Opening onto a huge deck, with incredible views from every room, you'll never guess what makes this country home so unique.
We've heard of tiny houses and micro-apartments, but could a micro addition be the answer to your space issues? Let's see...
Hiring an architect to design your new home or renovation is a big commitment. So how do you know you're making the right choice?
This house had become a squat and burnt down during the design stage, but Dean and Lisa transformed it into a modern, sustainable home.
Splitting this home into two separate pavilions creates flexible spaces which also solves a number of challenges.
On a long, narrow site, a courtyard is cleverly cut into this addition to allow the sun to stream into new living spaces.
A decked courtyard connects this existing home and extension, providing light, breezes and an indoor-outdoor connection to old and new.
Could you live in a tiny house? CABN, an Australian tiny house tucked away in the Adelaide Hills, gives you a test drive (stay).
We take a step back in time to find five homes which celebrate the beach shacks of the past by cladding themselves in fibre cement.
Just because you have a narrow block without a north-facing backyard doesn't mean you have to sacrifice light, views and ventilation.
Beachside towns were once dotted with simple fibro beach shacks. This modern home reinterprets that classic style.
When you've got active young kids, your home must be robust enough to withstand a lot of punishment. This kitchen is built to last.
