Gesticulating Wildly

In a heritage conservation area in Sydney’s inner west, a Federation bungalow on a corner site is transformed in collaboration with Arent&Pyke with a sculpted new rear living pavilion. Based on the original material palette of brick and slate shingle, it presents discreetly from the street, while its light-filled rear spaces open joyously to the sun and landscape. The main street frontage remains true to its Arts & Crafts heritage, while the addition turns the corner in a more robust urban language of brick and steel. Original front rooms and facade details are revived, while the new rear pavilion pivots around a mature paperbark, marking a shift in geometry and flow from the living area to the outdoor room and rear garden. A void holds the dining room in a cradle of light, elevating the social act of dining together. The period palette is revived in the old and reinterpreted in the new, from its mansard slate roof disguising the first-floor addition, to the new herringbone timber floors and outside to the garden pathways, constructed from recycled bricks. Photography: Anson Smart, Brett Boardman, and Pablo Veiga