Looking inside a garden house that embraces the subtropical environment of Brisbane, Gibbon Street Residence offers a balance of interior and natural spaces. Designed by Cavill Architects, the renovated home harmonises with the natural landscape while adding to the neighbourhood greenery.

Inside a garden house located in the innercity suburb of New Farm, the existing built surrounds are reflected. “The strong history of Italian family settlement in the area was something that we really wanted to celebrate in this project,” says Sandy Cavill, director at Cavill Architects. “We looked at the charming way in which those houses have been renovated and built – the materiality, their language – and it was that history and culture that really led to the conception of the ideas behind this project.” Emerging from an existing workers’ cottage, the house includes a modern extension that fits in the context of local design. Layers of offform concrete and wet dash render echo the foundations of neighbouring builds; used throughout the project, the wet dash render also merges interior and garden spaces.

“When we first visited this site, one of its key attributes was really a legacy of landscape,” says Cavill. “The rear of houses on this street, collectively they contribute quite a large green space.” Cavill Architects takes care to maximise floor space inside a garden house without disturbing nature. Greenery is set on top of the rear extension and the resculpted site features a dry creek bed, continuing the work of the natural watercourse. The levels of the house are then conceived as a series of platforms relating to the surrounds. “There's a bridgelike structure, a sitting room, which hovers over the undulating landscape, and then the main living space sits at the bottom of the dry creek bed,” says Cavill. “So really, the gardens have been threaded throughout the ground floor of the building and the living spaces always look to sit alongside gardens and courtyards.”

As other homes sit close to the sides of Gibbon Street Residence, Cavill Architects uses the top and bottom of the house to illuminate inside a garden house. “We've got a number of skylights and a void to the courtyard, which bring light deep into the plan, and also windows at the floor, which focus on the garden without compromising the privacy of the interior,” says Cavill. The relationship between the home and the neighbourhood is developed and managed through the rooftop garden. A variety of plant species are positioned close to the edge of the roof so that, spilling over the side, they not only protect the interior below from outside view but also provide a pleasant green visual for neighbours to enjoy.

From inside a garden house to its rooftop, Gibbon Street Residence testifies to the considered approach of Cavill Architects. “A key ambition of our office in all of its projects, whether they be large and public or small and private, is to consider a certain civic mindedness,” says Cavill. “That was really at the core of the focus of this project and we're so pleased that the community enjoys it from within its context.”

00:00 Introduction to the Garden House
01:03 The Original Workers Cottage
01:34 The Landscape and Garden Design
02:06 The Material Palette
02:52 The Layout of the Home
04:20 The Rooftop Garden
04:47 Key Ambitions of the Architects

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Photography by David Chatfield and Christopher Frederick Jones
Architecture by Cavill Architects.
Landscape design by Dan Young Landscape Architect.
Structural engineering by Westera Partners.
Filmed and edited by Dan Preston.
Production by The Local Production.

Location: New Farm, Queensland, Australia

The Local Project acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land in Australia. We recognise the importance of Indigenous peoples in the identity of our country and continuing connections to Country and community. We pay our respect to Elders, past and present and extend that respect to all Indigenous people of these lands.

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