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A Casual Australian Beauty, Woollahra House 11

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In the midst of a heritage conservation district in Sydney, Grove Architects create Woollahra House 11 – a open plan house that is modern yet cozy, airy but not stark.

The main floor is simplicity itself. Dining at the far right, kitchen in the middle, living at the L shape end, curved around an ornamental deck pool.

Looking into the long side of the main floor of the house from the pool (the striped box in the plan) the long counter of the kitchen sink is seen, with the living room beyond.

The living room is at the end of the L shape.

The clients, a mature couple, wanted a modest open plan house, that incorporated passive design techniques to maximise its benefit from the northern sun and cooling northeasterly breezes.

The slick transition from cool dark floor to the cool wet pool outside is untrammelled by fussy detail.

The well ventilated house needs no air conditioning, and in winter the radiant floor is heated from a solar thermal collector on the roof.

Above the pool can be seen the master bedroom, with a clerestory window that extends past it into the dressing room.

The daylight behind the bed in the master bedroom comes through a clerestory window that extends back into a dressing room that is simply two long closets.

The beds are not drawn in, but you can see the closet placement of the master bedroom.

A pleasant walk into the jungle leads to the guest bedroom at the end of what would be a narrow hall if the stairwell wasn’t open.

Stairs down the spine of the house bring you to the dining room end of the living floor.

The top floor houses the master bedroom, an individual art studio space, and a separate bedroom suite for guests.

At street level, a slight incline leads down into a two car garage.

In the center is a yoga studio. The white stucco wall houses two rainwater harvesting tanks.

The building is entirely self sufficient, providing its own water from the two tanks, and its heating and hot water from a solar thermal setup on the roof.