The Design Brief (House Raise and Build-in-Under)

This old house in Tarragindi was in need of some definite TLC.  Shortly after the owners acquired the property they wanted to get to work to raise the house and build-in-under.  The potential was evident from the get go. The location was great; there was an existing pool (border line swamp) and a small house footprint on an average size block meant that there was potentially plenty of yard to play with.

The clients wanted to have a 5 bedroom home with a study. They wanted living both upstairs and down and the design needed to accentuate the backyard with walls of glass overlooking the soon to be manicured garden and renovated pool.

Across the small building pad there was a gnarly fall of 3m and this resulted in us getting close to the 8.5m maximum building height.  The clients engaged a surveyor at the time of stumping and raising the house and this allowed them to push the ridge as high as possible enabling them to take advantage of higher ceilings on the ground floor.

The block was also zoned in the Demolition Control Precinct so a town planner was needed to get the Development Approval.  The original design was accepted without too many alterations. The extra process just added a month or so onto the approval process.

The Execution

The entry was going to be a challenge because the finish pad level was over 2m below the street level and with a setback of 4m to the porch roof it didn’t really give us much room to play with.  There were a couple of ideas one was to have the entry to the home at the same level as the street and then to split the stairs leading down to the ground floor and up to the first floor. We decided to tier the retaining walls and add stairs from the road level down to the entry porch resulting in the house only having two levels.

The clients managed the project on-the-ground and this resulted in an amazing completed project that focussed on quality and detail.

From the moment you walk onto the front timber porch the home invites you in. As you step through the solid timber door framed in glass you instantly get a feeling of space and homeliness.  The wide entry hallway captures your attention and leads you to the rear of the home which is spectacular.  Almost the entire rear wall is glass; this opens the space up inviting light and breezes through the main living areas.  The flow from the indoors to the outside under roof alfresco area is seamless.

The first floor boasts 5 bedrooms a large bathroom with a free-standing bath and another living area for the kids or a place just to chill.  The transformation of this home has to be seen to be believed.  It was taken from a four bedroom run down rental to a 5 bedroom plus study executive residence with style and attitude.