Houses Revisited: Point Chevalier house
Looking along the north-west side of this Point Chevalier house designed by Matter Director Jonathan Smith.
Looking at the open plan kitchen and living space from the garden.
The north-east end of the house from the Meola Creek side of the garden.
The open plan kitchen and dining area looks out over Meola Creek and reserve.
The entryway. The concrete wall drops down into the foundations and connects the lower ground living space to the upstairs bedroom floor.
The glazed living room and open plan dining and kitchen area.
Jonathan Smith has designed a modest, modern house that makes the most of a challenging section, first published in 2011.
From parts of the garden of this Point Chevalier house, designed by Jonathan Smith of Matter, the outlook is positively rural. The section runs to the edge of Meola Creek and the reserve beyond. The sound of birdsong and even animals from the zoo makes a nice rural soundtrack to match.
The section was on the market for a while, with some challenges such as council easements, established trees, and infill that exposed the site to both neighbours making it a difficult proposal for potential buyers. When the clients were looking at the site, they approached Smith and discussed what they might be able to achieve there.
The clients and architect could see that the site had significant potential if the obstacles could be overcome. So the restrictions of both site and brief both played a part in the end result, a modest family home that sits tucked into a spacious garden.
The house sits on the excavated south-east side of the section. The excavation revealed the natural contours of the land and gave back intimacy to the property, with levels delineating space and generating the floor plans programmatically, says Smith. It also gives it a very discreet profile from the street and creates total privacy from the neighbours on the southern boundary.
The entry to the house leads into the landing between the bedroom and the living floors. The garage and main bathroom are at this level. From here you can see the roughcast concrete panels, cast on site, that go right through to the foundations. Upstairs three bedrooms and a bathroom run off the small hallway.
Downstairs there is a snug, living room and open plan kitchen and dining room. On the southern wall there are no windows, creating a sense of protected warmth and solid shelter. All of the rooms are open to the floor-to-ceiling glazing on the north-west side of the house so have plenty of light.
The materials in these spaces; concrete, steel and ply panels reveal the construction of the building and create an honest, earthy palette that doesn’t overpower the sumptuous garden outlook that the living spaces enjoy.
Click here to see more Houses Revisited. And sign up to our email newsletters to receive Houses Revisited straight to your inbox.
Note: These are stories from our archives and, since the time of writing, some details may have changed including names, personnel of specific firms, registration status, etc.
