Brief:

 

This studio above an existing garage was designed to harness natural light, with flexible entertaining/courtyard on ground level. It was the first approval of rear 2-storey in local vicinity.

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New office studio above new garage on rear lane in a heritage conservation area. The client needed a new office separated from the main house to provide a private quiet work space for the writing of a book and for storage of all the research material and book collection.

 

The existing garage was difficult to access and did not function well. It was demolished and a new garage built with an office/studio with attached ensuite was built above. both the garage and the office are north facing looking into a leafy courtyard.

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Project details:

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Year completed: 2016

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Council: Inner West (formerly Marrickville) 

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Builder: Creative Habitat

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Engineer: E2 Design 

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Photography: Varun Bondwal

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Sustainability Features:

 

Passive Design: Maximise amount of new windows and glazed doors facing north. Optimising location of small windowsmon southern side for cross ventilation.

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Renewable Energy: Existing photo-voltaic system on main terrace house.

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Hot Water: Instantaneous gas - due to small site restricting other options

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Water Saving: WELS rated fittings

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Windows and Glazing: Double glazed timber framed rated for acoustic treatment as office is directly under the fligh path.

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Building Materials: FC and Weathertex cladding on light weight walls with R2.5 polyester insulation. R3.5 insulation to new metal roofs. Materials chosen for economy and to keep height to a minimum so as to minimise over-shadowing.

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Lighting: All new fittings are LED lights.

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Lifestyle: Design aims to provide a comfortable private workspace on the first floor overlooking a leafy courtyard and well functioning garage/storage space on the ground floor. The north wall of the garage has custom built polycarbonate clad walls which when opened up allows the entertaining area in the rear courtyard to overflow into the garage for special occasions.

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External paints: Heritage colours Internal paints - Ecolour Low VOC paints.

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