Renovation of a small 3 bedroom home that was 60 or more years old. It was a traditional brick home with a gabled roof and an addition of a garage on the side. The reason it’s a renovation is because the position of the original house – you could never re-build in that position with current legislation, so we wanted to keep as much of the original build as possible. ​ There were two big parts to the project. FIRST: Building a garage on a new part of the property and adding a games room. SECOND: Total rebuild of the house. We added a story on top of it, turning it into a 4 bdrm home with an en-suite and a parents retreat (inducing a lounge and library area). Large decks, an outdoor fireplace and an under-roof outdoor entertaining area was also added to the south side of the property to capture views to the hinterland ranges. This house has a combination of Rammed Earth, Steel, Brick and a Timber Frame. Because of the areas of rammed earth around the house – it really grounds the house and helps with temperature control. Even though the home is situated in Sunny Queensland, the house is largely free from air conditioning because it naturally breathes and has North to South breezes created within it. ​ CHALLENGES: Retaining the block and retaining the area of the house was a major challenge of this renovation. Another aspect that was unique to this renovation was the large decks going over the roofs below – ensuring there was no transition between the roof and decking (no water penetration). ​ FAVOURITE ASPECT OF DESIGN: The entry. Because people had to walk past the office on the ground floor to enter the home, we created a series of ponds, pathways and clever screenings to control people seeing into the home as they walked past towards the entry.