Light touch, high impact

No extension for this modest Queenslander, just a low-budget reconfiguration for extra light and air.

Sometimes the best renovation solution is subtraction rather than addition. Accretions, tacked on over time, can cut down daylight and breezes and consume precious garden space. The 1890s Queenslander home of architect Ruairi Roberts and interior designer Elizabeth Hall lost a side verandah long ago when its Paddington neighbourhood was carved into smaller lots, but it had also gained a roofed deck tacked onto an early built-in verandah to the rear.

The home needed a clever rethink, as the deck addition separated living spaces from sunshine and the private back garden to the north. Its low-raked roof was uninsulated, meaning the deck was unusable in summer. The couple opted to remove the deck entirely and rework the edge of the interior living spaces, adding large sliding doors and a balustrade. “The moment that back deck came off and the new opening got cut in the back wall to the north, we immediately knew it was the right move,” Ruairi remembers. A sunken courtyard, only slightly larger than the footprint of the removed deck, provides a more private, leafy and cooler outdoor living space and offers natural light and views to a new home office tucked under the house.

As is typical of Queenslanders, for the past century or more visitors entered the home via stairs up to the front verandah and along a corridor past the bedrooms to the kitchen and living at the rear. As they are situated on a sloped corner block, Elizabeth and Ruairi saw an opportunity to create a step-free entrance from the side street directly into the living area. The new entry deck provides an extra outdoor space, a landing for the garden stairs leading to the courtyard and downstairs office, and comfortable access for their rescue greyhound.

While they built up the fence and gate along this western frontage for privacy and shading, they completely removed the front fence and opened this green space to the street, incorporating a public seat amongst lush plantings for passersby climbing the very steep hill to rest on and enjoy the view. It was a bold move to open 30 square metres of their precious 198 to the public, but for the couple it was a “big ticket item” in enhancing the frontage of their home and connecting to community.

Buying the property in a sought-after inner suburb was a brave decision for two young professionals who had only just established their joint design practice, Hall + Roberts. Fortunately, they had a great understanding of the building industry, and their tight renovation budget was in tune with their design ethos of building less. “Our design decision-making was a balancing act between what we really wanted the house to have and what we could afford, with a focus on making only the necessary changes,” says Ruairi.

Raising the house – a typical Brisbane solution to add more space – was beyond their budget, and they didn’t feel it was necessary anyway. “By keeping the cottage in its place, it retained its relationship with the site and the street,” Ruairi explains. Underneath, they removed a few stumps to free up space and excavated a little for the home office and a laundry area beside the car spaces. Upstairs, after demolition of the deck, alterations were contained within the existing building footprint and limited to modifying the northern wall, renovating the existing bathroom in its current location, adding built-in storage to bedrooms and living areas, and shifting the kitchen across to the northeast corner to free up space for a very compact ensuite.

“We don’t really have formal dinners, so a dining room was the first thing on the chopping block in terms of spatial planning,” says Elizabeth. To compensate, the new kitchen includes a generous island bench seating six. For larger gatherings, people can spill into the adjacent living area or dine in the courtyard. An internal stair was also deemed an unnecessary financial and spatial sacrifice. “We just park under the house and then run up the back.” The couple acknowledge that this approach – along with the undercroft laundry – might not suit everyone, but it enabled them to focus funds on spaces more important to them.

Ruairi and Elizabeth also reduced costs by being hands-on where they could, helping out with demolition, painting, concreting and landscaping. “Probably the biggest saving was through being owner builders, with Ruairi coordinating trades,” Elizabeth says.

Modernist architect Mies van der Rohe’s oft-quoted philosophy of ‘less is more’ is abundantly evident in the success of this project. The final outcome is a comfortable, efficient and beautiful home, which through clever design feels way more generous than its true dimensions, and that now fully embraces its setting and Brisbane’s subtropical climate.