Mike Besley’s Holland Street design has won the residential alterations/additions award category of the BDAA Sydney Regional Chapter Design Awards 2020. Besley is the director and building designer of ICR Design, a forward-thinking Building Design Practice based in Castle Hill, New South Wales. Boasting a reimagined entry veranda, this design was deemed by judges to be a great version of an Australian coastal house - simple, elegant, tasteful. A lovely house well-laid out to separate the living and sleeping areas. The reworking of the existing front balcony and footprint is a creative re-imagining of the frontage. With good northern exposure masses of natural light, and PV on the roof, the home boasts many sustainable features. The designer was praised by this transformation of a standard red brick 70's home into a modern beach style dwelling.

Recycled brick new addition

Poppy's Farm Exterior

Periscope House draws light into a young family’s home, adding thoughtful solutions and flexible spaces to 1950s Art Deco foundations. Our clients engaged us to undertake a considered extension to their character-rich home in Malvern East. They wanted to celebrate their home’s history while adapting it to the needs of their family, and future-proofing it for decades to come. The extension’s form meets with and continues the existing roofline, politely emerging at the rear of the house. The tones of the original white render and red brick are reflected in the extension, informing its white Colorbond exterior and selective pops of red throughout. Inside, the original home’s layout has been reimagined to better suit a growing family. Once closed-in formal dining and lounge rooms were converted into children’s bedrooms, supplementing the main bedroom and a versatile fourth room. Grouping these rooms together has created a subtle definition of zones: private spaces are nestled to the front, while the rear extension opens up to shared living areas. A tailored response to the site, the extension’s ground floor addresses the western back garden, and first floor (AKA the periscope) faces the northern sun. Sitting above the open plan living areas, the periscope is a mezzanine that nimbly sidesteps the harsh afternoon light synonymous with a western facing back yard. It features a solid wall to the west and a glass wall to the north, emulating the rotation of a periscope to draw gentle light into the extension. Beneath the mezzanine, the kitchen, dining, living and outdoor spaces effortlessly overlap. Also accessible via an informal back door for friends and family, this generous communal area provides our clients with the functionality, spatial cohesion and connection to the outdoors they were missing. Melding modern and heritage elements, Periscope House honours the history of our clients’ home while creating light-filled shared spaces – all through a periscopic lens that opens the home to the garden.

The soaring ceiling on this stunning home provides an airy outdoor entertaining space while still allowing plenty of light into the homes interior. The clean lines and white render offer the perfect backdrop for the aged timber pergolas and will be softened by the beautiful bougainvillea as they grow up and over the structures.

Simple facade

Modern three level home with large timber look window screes an random stone cladding.

Renovated exterior from the back, re painted, new roof, New expanded rear external area with a modwood floor extended out towards the pool. Open skylight to a garden on the BBQ area.