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Architects: JOHN ELLWAY. ARCHITECT
- Area: 195 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Toby Scott
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Manufacturers: Bette, Fisher & Paykel, Artemide, Astra Walker, Aussie Woodworks, Blum, CLA Lighting, Dulux, Glennon Tiles, Gyprock, James Hardie, Lysaght, Mister Ply & Wood, Mitsubishi Electric, National Masonry, Nomi, Polished Concrete Design, Rockcote Qrender, SF Fabrications, Viridian
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Lead Architect: John Ellway
Text description provided by the architects. Cascade House is an early 1900s timber cottage that sits on the western side of one of Paddington's many hills. As a house for a family of 5, their brief was a place for kids to play independently, but just in sight. An addition would become a place to gather for meals and games. Key to their brief was a place to picnic on the grass, under a tree, and in the sky. The challenge was connecting to the ground on a sloping site and protecting it from the afternoon sun.
The result is a minimal intervention for the cottage. Only the rear 'lean-to' was rebuilt, partly to manage the budget and partly because its hardwood fabric was perfectly okay. With a four-meter level change across the site, breaking up the entry sequence into a series of split levels mediated this topography, creating spaces to pause as you move higher. From the footpath level, where bikes, prams & cars park, you step up to the entry that opens into the meals and courtyard. Screened doors slide away into the garden, creating an uninterrupted connection to a grassy courtyard. The kitchen sits at the end of this level, facing the lounge above, with a window to the south overlooking the pool. Kids can swim with supervision. The waterline sits just below the benchtop, becoming a continuation of the room. Late afternoon sun reflects off the water up onto the raked ceiling above.
Stepping up another meter is the lounge. This is the new center of the house. Built-in seating reduces the building footprint. A question we asked repeatedly was, what is the minimum dimension a room can be to reduce cost and materials and maximize landscape beyond? Sitting here, you look through the central courtyard to the street beyond, down to the meals area, creating a social connection while the family cooks, and up across to the verandah and bedrooms in the cottage. Changes in level manage privacy, with the cottage being the most private. Bedrooms within can be left messy. There is an implied permission to be sought before a visitor is invited to continue stepping up further.
Not raising a house has wider neighborhood and streetscape benefits. The house remains connected to the street, encouraging interaction with neighbors and passive surveillance. The wide but shallow site allowed the addition to sit to the side of the cottage. Working with a talented garden designer was critical to creating a landscape that reinforces this separation. The cottage continues to sit proudly on the street as it has for a hundred years.
The key to unlocking the diagram of the project was managing the western afternoon sun without losing the outlook. With the site sloping away, there was an opportunity to simply extend the pitch of the verandah roof over the cascading split levels below. These spaces are protected from the afternoon sun by a roof covered in solar panels and a solid wall to the west. Moving across the linking breezeway, the new extension sits below eye level, editing out the foreground and allowing an uninterrupted outlook of the sunset, valley, and hills.
