The new owners of this heritage listed terrace in Redfern engaged Jessica Bradley, from BASE, to design a new kitchen fit out that would improve access to natural daylight and connection to the textural garden beyond, in addition to minor alterations and additions including a new rear studio.

The house is part of a terrace row, constructed around 1864 and now heritage listed in the City of Sydney municipality. The site benefits from an East-West orientation, with the North along the side of the sandstone paved courtyard. The existing kitchen was a u-shaped design at the rear of the dwelling, dark and closed from the large side and rear courtyards. Jessica saw the opportunity to open up the kitchen towards the north-facing side courtyard, while designing a layout that simultaneously improved the connection to the rear garden.

The existing garden is a textured array of sandstock brickwork – Australia’s earliest bricks characterised by rich earthy tones and inconsistent colouring. The brick is present as both paving and a patchwork of side fences, a backdrop to overgrown ferns and all set beneath a ginormous fig tree on an adjacent property.

Jessica felt it was important for the new renovation to complement the existing textures and materiality on site, but without pretending to be from the original fabric. A series of deliberate design manoeuvres increase daylight into the otherwise dark entrance hallway; provide intermittent sunny spaces to sit, dwell, read a book; enhance the connection to the special, existing, sandstone paved courtyard; and introduce playful landscaping elements that extend the experience and enjoyment of the building into the garden.

Jessica designed, documented and tendered the project, the clients engaging Rise Architectural Builders, whom she had worked with on previous projects. At this point, Jessica commenced maternity leave while friend and colleague, Joanna Bridle from Hicks and Holmested delivered the remainder of the project. The transition was seamless and the clients had positive relationships with everyone involved.

The kitchen is situated in the rear wing of the home, accessed from the main entry hall of dark timber and deep blue-green walls. New joinery extends the length of the shared wall, incorporating under-stair storage, a euro laundry, kitchen and a built-in seat for the dining area at the rear. A large plinth of Patagonia quartzite serves as the kitchen island, its texture responding to the warm sandy tones of the sandstone pavers.

New joinery door and drawer fronts are Victorian Ash veneer, sprayed a medium-green polyurethane, allowing the texture of the quarter-cut veneer to be present in the finished product. The new Victorian Ash floorboards are light in tone to contrast with the timbers of the original home. The resulting kitchen is light and airy overall, with new sliding doors opening to both the side courtyard and the rear terrace.

The rear terrace incorporates a brick seat as an extension of the internal dining seat. The flooring is finished in crazy paving to complement the varied masonry textures of the rear garden. The owners delightfully describe how their daughter loved ‘her new stage’.

The new studio at the rear of the garden is constructed from recycled sandstock bricks constructed in a corbelled setout. Joanna visited the brick supplier to hand select crates of suitably toned recycled bricks. The brickwork beautifully complements the existing brick fences, appearing like it were always there; but the corbelling distinguishing it as new work, in order to bring honesty to the renovation. The studio encloses and frames the rear of the garden, facing inwards, completing the three-sided brick hug that envelops the garden.

The renovation has created strong connections between the interior and exterior, inviting the courtyards into the home, framing views out and framing views in, becoming both backdrop and foreground. The material selections work seamlessly with the site, grounding the renovation within its context while reinvigorating the dwelling for its new family and another 150 years.

Environmental Strategies:
- floor plan optimised within same building footprint
- all new or replaced windows are double glazed
- new Victorian Ash timber awnings over new north-facing and west-facing glazing
- recycled bricks used for new studio
- High star appliances and low water use tap fittings, where new
- off-cut Patagonia quartzite used for laundry bench and powder room sink
- powder room door replaced with new reed-glazed obscure glass to increase natural light penetration into dark terrace
- powder-room floor re-tiled to suit new renovation - as a way of upgrading the room while minimising demolition and waste of a complete renovation

Redfern, Sydney, NSW

Architecture & Interior Design: BASE
Site Architect: Hicks & Homested
Builder: Rise Architectural Builders
Engineer: Zimmerman Consulting Engineers
PCA: Sanders & Co
Photographer: Tom Ross

Completed 2023