Houzz Tour: Bowral Cottage Reimagined for an Eco-Smart Family
An addition designed around a swimming pool has turned this Southern Highlands home into a joyous place to live all year
Joanna Tovia
23. november 2017
This heritage-listed Victorian-era cottage in the beautiful town of Bowral had all the charm and character a family could want, but not the space they needed to comfortably live and entertain into the future. The chilly winters of NSW’s Southern Highlands also called for a smart approach to heating and cooling, high on the list of requests for architect Tina Tziallas, who was tasked with restoring and extending the home without changing its appearance from the street.
“The brief was to respect and retain the heritage building fabric and replace a poorly designed 1980s addition with a functional, generous and comfortable new space for their young family,” says Tziallas. “And most importantly, the house had to work well from an environmental-performance perspective.” This resulted in a new contemporary-style rear addition, new guest accommodation, a new courtyard and landscaping, as well as a few other updates. throughout.
“The brief was to respect and retain the heritage building fabric and replace a poorly designed 1980s addition with a functional, generous and comfortable new space for their young family,” says Tziallas. “And most importantly, the house had to work well from an environmental-performance perspective.” This resulted in a new contemporary-style rear addition, new guest accommodation, a new courtyard and landscaping, as well as a few other updates. throughout.
Photos by Tom Ferguson
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A young family of three
Location: Bowral, Southern Highlands, NSW
Size: 1618 square metre site; existing house was 132 square metres, the addition is 200 square metres, plus a 36-square-metre garage; 5 bedrooms (each with an ensuite)
Architect: Tziallas Omeara Architecture Studio
Builder: A J Corby Constructions
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A young family of three
Location: Bowral, Southern Highlands, NSW
Size: 1618 square metre site; existing house was 132 square metres, the addition is 200 square metres, plus a 36-square-metre garage; 5 bedrooms (each with an ensuite)
Architect: Tziallas Omeara Architecture Studio
Builder: A J Corby Constructions
“The clients were passionate about restoration of the original parts of the building, and replacing the dysfunctional 1980s addition to the rear of the building,” says Tziallas. The existing cottage was renovated to improve its thermal performance. This included insulating the roof, underfloor and wall cavities and reglazing all existing windows.
In designing a beautiful, private addition to a heritage-listed Bowral cottage, the architects had to ensure that the existing cottage remained unchanged from the street. Built in the latter part of the 19th century, the Victorian-era home had an appeal its owners wanted to preserve inside and out. “The galvanised roof on the original house was replaced and the existing, mature gardens were completely redesigned to provide an appropriate setting for the renovated house,” says Tziallas.
Although they loved the character of the original cottage, the owners were open to exploring a contemporary approach to the new work, allowing for the new addition to juxtapose with the original weatherboard cottage. “The new work is a contemporary interpretation of the beauty and elegance of the heritage detailing of the existing house, and provides for new living areas, a link to new guest accommodation and access to a new courtyard and pool,” says Tziallas. “The design allows for the creation of beautiful moments as you move between new and old.”
The additions were also designed to maximise the solar-passive performance of the house, create a large entertainer’s kitchen in the heart of the home, allow for a new living and dining area, and provide for a new sunken media room and guest accommodation. Silvertop ash timber from The Woodage is used liberally as a feature inside. Polished concrete floors are a contemporary departure from the timber floorboards of the original cottage.
The smart kitchen, living and dining areas are designed as much for family living as they are for entertaining a crowd.
At night, the island can be lit from within, adding atmosphere and wow-factor when guests are over.
Stools on both sides of the island make the sophisticated kitchen a social place to be, and a wine fridge makes entertaining easy.
Skylights and a mirrored splashback maximise natural light in the kitchen and reflect the greenery of the garden around the pool into the house.
A Cheminees Philippe three-sided fireplace turns the open-plan addition into a welcoming gathering place in winter.
“The house has been designed to capture the sunlight in winter, and to exclude it from heating up the spaces in summer,” says Tziallas. “The new additions have been detailed to eliminate thermal bridging, to create a well-insulated and airtight envelope, and to maximise passive-solar heat gain and natural cross-ventilation.”
The new addition looks out over a swimming pool, outdoor entertaining area and garden beyond.
“The main driver for the alterations and additions was to create a warm, bright, comfortable house with excellent thermal performance, which was a challenge in a cool-climate region,” says Tziallas.
The environmental performance of the house exceeded the owners’ expectations. “What we have created is a house that is comfortable and delightful to live in, while producing more energy than the users require,” one of the owners says.
Windows: Hanlon Windows
The environmental performance of the house exceeded the owners’ expectations. “What we have created is a house that is comfortable and delightful to live in, while producing more energy than the users require,” one of the owners says.
Windows: Hanlon Windows
Views through the house and to the garden were important, as they connected the house to its outdoor setting. “The garden provides an ever-changing setting, which is dynamic and seasonal, and provides bursts of colour throughout the year,” says Tziallas.
Views were directional and specific, deliberately focused on the garden, and excluding views to the neighbours. “A high level of sustainability was desired across both the old and the new parts of the building, and we were encouraged to juxtapose the new work against the existing,”says Tziallas. “We made the most of adding new to old by pulling the building apart where possible, and allowing sunlight to penetrate the rear of the existing house.”
The original home’s internal layout (shaded in grey) stayed much as it was. An earlier addition to the rear of the house was demolished to make way for the new extension.
Increasing the environmental performance of the existing dwelling, while retaining original heritage elements, was one of the biggest challenges of the project. “A huge number of solar panels needed to be installed, but none of them were to be visible, which meant careful design of the new roofs and where solar panels could be located,” she says. “A geothermal, closed-loop hydronic system was installed, and vertical bore holes needed to be drilled into the earth to the rear of the house.
“Limited access and existing gardens made this a challenge, but the result is an incredibly efficient hydronic heating system connected to the pool and in-slab heating.
“Limited access and existing gardens made this a challenge, but the result is an incredibly efficient hydronic heating system connected to the pool and in-slab heating.
The new master bedroom is accessed via a louvred hallway facing the pool.
The owners lived on site throughout the build, and the site had limited access during construction, with only a single narrow driveway for all access, as well as limited street parking. Compounding matters, the house was being constructed at the same time as the gardens were being upgraded, which meant limitation on the access to the site for storage of materials and waste.
The owners lived on site throughout the build, and the site had limited access during construction, with only a single narrow driveway for all access, as well as limited street parking. Compounding matters, the house was being constructed at the same time as the gardens were being upgraded, which meant limitation on the access to the site for storage of materials and waste.
The light-filled master ensuite features a washbasin by Studio Bagno and a bank of mirrored cabinets that amplify the garden views.
The addition’s exterior echoes the battens of silvertop ash that work so well to bring a sense of warmth to the interior. “The thing we are most proud of about this project is the way the construction of the house was executed,” says Tziallas. “The result is the combination of a beautiful design put together in a precise and careful way – the owners, builder, consultants and all contractors were passionate about this project and had a shared vision for how the construction and detail would be resolved to achieve the best possible outcome.”
A geo-thermal heat recovery system heats the pool, floor slab and domestic hot water, and 35 kilowatts of solar panels provide more electricity than the occupants are likely to use (feeding the surplus back into the grid). A charging station in the garage powers an electric vehicle.
“The pool was designed to complement the recreational areas in the central courtyard, but also to provide a view to water from the main living spaces,” says Tziallas.
“It is beautifully lit so that it becomes a feature during the day and the evening,” says Tziallas. “Ultimately the house now provides the occupants with a space to entertain, for family life, and the ability for them to work from home and enjoy their garden.”
Tell us
What do you love about this home? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save your favourite images, bookmark the story, and join in the conversation.
Tell us
What do you love about this home? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save your favourite images, bookmark the story, and join in the conversation.
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Cool extension. Maybe too disjointed for me too, that type of thing on an apartment city block would look slick. Out of curiosity, with all those battens and element exposure, how often would they need treatment?