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Rozelle Courtyard House
Rozelle, NSW
Alterations + Additions Ā· Built Ā· DA Approved
A compact heritage home expanded through light, landscape and an unexpected use of the side setback.
The design turns a constrained inner-city condition into a bright insideāoutside family space, making the home feel substantially more generous without simply adding more enclosed floor area.
01 / THE BRIEF
Client: Private Location: Rozelle, NSW Project type: Alterations + Additions Typology: Heritage / Inner-city residence Approval: Development Application Status: Built Scope: Architecture + Interior Design
The challenge was to create a brighter, more generous family home on a tight inner-city site while responding carefully to the existing heritage character. Rather than treating the narrow side setback as leftover space, the design incorporates it into the experience of the house.
The dining room opens directly onto a new outdoor entertaining courtyard, allowing the internal and external areas to operate together as one larger space. The result is less about adding square metres and more about making the existing home feel bigger, lighter and more connected.
02 / EXISTING + CONCEPT
A tight heritage site with limited opportunities for conventional expansion.
Make space without simply building more ā turn the side setback into an outdoor room and extension of the dining space.
03 / PLANS
The dining room ā part courtyard, part outdoor entertaining room and part landscape buffer. Large openings dissolve the boundary between inside and out, allowing the dining space to expand laterally into the courtyard. Planting, natural light and fresh air become part of the interior experience.
A WINDOW INSTEAD OF A SPLASHBACK
A long frameless window replaces the conventional kitchen splashback, creating a continuous horizontal view to the greenery outside. The intervention brings natural light and landscape into a highly functional part of the home while maintaining the required setbacks. Rather than looking at a wall while preparing food, the kitchen becomes visually connected to the garden.
KITCHEN DETAIL
Add finished kitchen photograph or elevation highlighting the long frameless splashback window and greenery beyond.
HERITAGE + NEW
The project required a considered response to the existing heritage character. Rather than reproducing heritage detailing throughout the addition, the contemporary interventions remain deliberately simple and legible. A small pop-out accommodating the ensuite adopts a form and scale sympathetic to the original cottage, helping the addition sit comfortably within the established character of the home.
04 / MATERIAL PALETTE
White
Timber
Greenery
- White, bright surfaces
- Clean minimalist lines
- Warm timber accents
- Natural light
- Landscape as part of the interior
The interior palette is intentionally restrained. White surfaces maximise reflected daylight, minimal detailing keeps the compact spaces visually calm, and warm timber and landscape provide softness and contrast. The result is fresh and contemporary without competing with the original architecture.
05 / THE HOME
06 / BEHIND THE PROJECT
A targeted inner-city alteration that finds additional space through connection rather than enclosure. By opening the dining room to the side setback, framing greenery through the kitchen and balancing contemporary interventions with the home's heritage character, the project creates a lighter, calmer and more generous family home within a constrained footprint.
