Location: Little Bay, NSW

This residential development of 14 terrace houses is located within the old Prince Henry Hospital site at Little Bay south of Sydney.

The context of Little Bay is predominately coastal, and the architecture of the proposed dwellings is responsive to this environment through the use of materials and form of the design. A formal strategy was to provide a clear identity for each individual dwelling, whilst also providing a horizontal / linear façade composition that is consistent with surrounding development and planning guidelines for the site.

This is enhanced by providing a deeply indented / projecting plan-form, where the three metre street setback provided to the upper storey bedroom elements is expressed as solid forms projected over the lighter, recessive entry and study areas on ground level. The garages and third bedrooms have been further set back to 5.5 metres, providing both a second off-street car-parking space and further indentation of the plan.

To avoid overlooking issues and dark interiors often associated with the terrace house type, a similar approach has been adopted for the northern or rear elevation where an average 8 metre setback is proposed to the rear northern boundary. A large covered outdoor room has been planned, around which the primary internal living spaces have been arranged.

The Kitchen is a single storey element that extends into the rear private garden and provides an opportunity for creating high quality outdoor private open space whilst avoiding over-scaled elements that overshadow adjacent terraces.

The design of the vertical elements of the scheme has been drawn from a contemporary interpretation of the coastal beach surf-watch tower, to capture distant views without impacting upon the privacy of immediate neighbours.