Balmoral Residence

The redevelopment of a tired post war residence aimed to build a relationship between a large rear yard with distant views to the Gateway Bridge, and a high set house that addressed the street. A re-organisation of the planning turned the focus of the house from the street to the garden and created a ‘threshold space’ – a series of decks that form a visual and physical threshold from the house to the garden. Connected under an enclosing roof, the space invites exploration and offers differing connections between the adjacent rooms, garden and views. Intimate and smaller areas of sub-enclosure are created within this space, dramatised by the falling roofline. Levels are treated playfully and the exaggeration of the edges invites engagement on a more intimate level. Steps become seats, balustrades become tables. The openings and balustrades are carefully located to edit views of adjacent houses and allow the house to flow to the garden. Internally the house is treated as a simple volume. Light is encouraged into dark corners from both natural and artificial sources and openings take advantage of both close and distant views, borrowing the mature landscape from the adjacent properties.

Balmoral Residence was awarded the Hayes and Scott award for Small Project Architecture at the 2010 AIA Queensland State awards. The project has been published in both local and national media.