The small 85-square-metre home sits on an equally modest site of 280 square metres. The clever manipulation of the building form to engage with natural light throughout the day, while maintaining privacy, creates interesting moments that feel sculptural. The decision was made early on to keep the footprint small and the quality high to try to emphasise how smaller spaces can feel equally as generous as their larger selves.

As a new insertion to an existing milieu, the structure sits pushed up toward the boundary, creating a courtyard garden in the centre of the site. The environment is folded into the home and therefore celebrated in different ways through the spaces created.

Anchoring the home to its site sees the use of fluted concrete formwork to create a sense of permanence.

The intuitive floor plan is formed from a place of restraint and efficiency. Although spread over two levels, the burrowing of the lower level into the sloping site allows a reduced presence from the approach. It provides a considered engagement with the site, whereby the bedrooms are restful, set within the native vegetation below and feel completely removed from its urban environment. Framing the upper level, the fluted concrete walls sit to the north and east, pulling the overall form together and recalibrating an inward-directed focus.

Concrete cast in-situ sunken bath.