Australia’s top houses of 2015
Skylight House by Andrew Burges Architects.
Clerehan House II by Neil Clerehan.
Aperture House by Cox Rayner Architects and Twofold Studio.
Lake Wendouree House by John Wardle Architects.
Alexandria Courtyard House by Matthew Pullinger.
It seems 2015 was the year the suburban house came of age, judging by Australia's most popular residential architecture reviews of the year. In these top five houses, we see modesty, humbleness and a connection to street and community celebrated with finely crafted detail, each making the most of its suburban context.
5. Let there be light: Skylight House
Andrew Burges Architects has made a virtue of modesty with an addition to a 1930s house on Sydney’s North Shore. The simple gesture of tucking a roof behind a roof establishes the geometry for a pair of monastical wells that funnel daylight into the space. This simplicity, though, belies painstakingly refined detail. Read more…
4. Self-portrait in besser brick: Clerehan House II
Behind an unassuming street frontage in Melbourne’s South Yarra lies a hidden gem of mid-century Australian modernism – a besser brick house that is every bit as understated and self-effacing as its architect, Neil Clerehan. Philip Goad reviews this “self-portrait” that Clerehan has called home for more than five decades. Read more…
3. Disciplined bonds: Aperture House
An ode to the humble brick, this addition to a worker’s cottage by Cox Rayner Architects and Twofold Studio both celebrates and transcends its inner suburban site. Andrew Mackenzie pays a visit, to find a house that carefully balances privacy with a sense of spaciousness, despite the duress of a tight site and tyrannical planning regime. Read more…
2. A home with a heart: Lake Wendouree House
John Wardle Architects channels Ballarat’s love affair with its gardens, conservatories and, in particular, its hedges, into a finely crafted new house. Establishing a direct connection with the “civic heart” of Ballarat and its community, the building is composed as a series of pavilions, courtyards and gardens, slung off an anchoring spine. Read more…
1. Street life: Alexandria Courtyard House
A new terrace house in Sydney by Matthew Pullinger Architect seriously engages with the street and community life. Internally, its planning deliberately breaks convention with a courtyard orientated to the shady south rather than the light- and heat-seeking north. Shaun Carter learns how this unusual strategy is perfect for Sydney’s climes. Read more…
