This Narrow Lot in Australia Holds Two Homes—But One’s Stone, and the Other’s Steel

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Project Details:

Location: Sydney, Australia

Architect: Retallack Thompson / @retallackthompson

Footprint: 1,700 square feet

Photographer: Benjamin Hosking / @benhoskingphotographer

Photographer: Hamish McIntosh

From the Architect: "The genesis for the project was to create a home that could be jointly owned and occupied by two families. The owner’s were looking to find a property that could provide a village-type arrangement where they could co-inhabit; have spaces for working, retreat, seclusion, and shared gathering.

"The existing Stone House is an 1830s narrow heritage listed terrace on the edge of the city, facing a busy main road with a quieter laneway at the rear. We quickly learned that we needed to work with the sandstone of the original steel house. The walls are up to 500 millimeters thick and every junction or meeting point of intervention required a new solution. We chiefly left the original house as it was and extended to the rear over the later 1930s brick intervention. Rather than altering any external walls the rear extension was treated as an infill to the additional roof space to create a new bedroom to the stone house and moving the bathroom inboard. The large picture window is this infill with the form of the 1930s brickwork still evident.

"The Steel House, a two bedroom secondary dwelling to the rear of the property, in direct contrast is purposefully minimized to steel construction of eight millimeter plate steel walls at their thinnest. We were working with a very narrow site width and so we looked to maximize the internal volumes and vertical spaces whilst minimizing the building envelope. The new rear dwelling activates the laneway behind and bookends a private inner courtyard which becomes an oasis-like shared space between the two households."