Keep Cabin House
Council area: Willoughby
Site + Context
This corner site in a flame zone adjoins Keep Reserve, a pocket of diverse bushland in the Heritage Conservation Area of Castlecrag, Sydney. Its existing 1940s bungalow was solid but had the typical problems of an Interwar house—low natural light, a formal layout and poor connection to the outdoors.
Client + Brief
An architect and landscaper had fallen in love with the site and its embrace by the surrounding bushland. They lived in the brick bungalow while planning its renovation.
“We wanted a home with winter sun, living spaces that flowed to the garden, space for children to play and room for visiting grandparents.”
Before
After
Before
After
Inspiration + Response
A love of nature underpins the response to this site, where architecture is the backdrop to landscape. The brick bungalow shell was retained, its roof peeled off and a new skillion roof added over the living area, to bathe the interior in light.
A modest first floor addition clad in Corten steel contains extra sleeping areas capped by native roof gardens. The new rust-coloured cladding provides a fireproof skin, while texturally echoing the peeling bark of surrounding angophoras.
Furniture has been designed or carefully collected, while landscaping has created outdoor rooms, creative places for children to play.
A modest resting place internally, with framed views to a rare pocket of bushland that the family is regenerating over time.
