Major transformation / Private residence

A house that was never finished, and never demolished

A major transformation of an unfinished house, retaining the existing structure and delivering new architecture and high end interiors throughout.

The clients had a history with the structure. They did not want to lose it, and they did not want the architectural language it came with. The project began by deciding what could sensibly stay.

Scope: Architecture, interior design, project leadership
Condition: Abandoned shell, structurally sound
Approach: Retain, absorb, re-language

Understated outside. High end within. The story below follows the house as it was found, then as it is entered.

01
As found

A shell with good bones and the wrong accent

Two storeys of blockwork, a tiled hip roof, colonnaded verandas and openings that had never received a window. Nothing about the exterior matched what the clients wanted to live in. Everything about the frame was worth keeping.

The unfinished house from the front, before works — Existing, front The double-height entrance mass and the veranda columns set the whole rhythm of the front. Both survive into the finished house, re-clad rather than removed.

The unfinished house from the rear, before works — Existing, rear The garden side had the deepest slab and the widest span. It became the entertaining face of the house.

02
The decision

Keep the frame. Change everything it says.

We reviewed the building with the structural engineer and designed around the elements that could remain. Retained structure is absorbed into joinery, wall compositions and the planning itself, so it reads as part of the house rather than as a remnant of the previous one.

Demolition was limited to what stood in the way of the new plan. The roof pitch, the column grid and the two-storey volume stayed; the language wrapped around them is entirely new.

03
Outside

Restraint at the street, generosity at the garden

Finished house from the driveway, with carport and stone-clad entrance mass — Arrival court The old entrance gable is now a blade of pale stone, and the veranda line has become a slatted carport that holds the drive without closing it. Guests park in front of the house; the family arrives past it. Nothing here announces what the interior will be.

Side elevation of the finished house in daylight — Side elevation Where the original had a tiled hip, the new roof folds and lifts, and the retained single-storey wing reads as a deliberate low edge to the composition.

Rear elevation at dusk with pool and pergola — Garden face, evening The same wide span that once held a row of columns now carries a two-storey loggia. Pool, terrace and pergola sit on the old slab line. This is the elevation the house was reorganised for.

04
Arrival

The house changes weight at the door

Formal visitors arrive into a foyer and can be received in a smaller seating area or the study. The family rooms are not exposed on arrival. The palette turns dark here, deliberately, so that the lighter rooms beyond feel like a release.

Double-height entry hall with curved stair and cluster of glass pendants — Entrance hall The retained double-height void is the one piece of the old house kept at full size. A curved stair and a hanging field of glass globes give it a reason to be tall, and the fluted dark timber runs the full height so the join between old and new never shows.

View through timber doors into a small receiving room — Receiving room Off the foyer, a room for four. Visitors can be met, seated and shown out without ever crossing the family side of the house.

05
Entertaining

One sequence, or four rooms

The clients entertain often, so the living room, dining, bar, pool and pergola work either separately or as one run. The bar belongs to that sequence rather than sitting apart as a feature room, and the motifs used behind it reappear in the detailing elsewhere.

Living room with brass screen opening to the bar beyond — Living room The living room is arranged as a series of connected places to sit, gather and entertain. The dark ribbed media wall anchors the main seating area, while the bar remains visually part of the room beyond. Slim brass fins create a subtle threshold to the dining area behind, giving each space its own identity without interrupting the sense of openness.

Bar with brass counter, fanned back panel and lounge seating — Bar The bar forms part of the route between the living space and terrace, allowing it to support entertaining without becoming a room of its own.

Formal dining room with walnut table for eight — Dining The dining area is deliberately restrained, with full-height panelling concealing the retained wall and the bronze feature detail linking it back to the bar.

Kitchen with marble island, breakfast table and glazed wine store — Kitchen The working end of the entertaining run. Four stools at the island for the family, a table alongside for everyday meals, and a glazed wine store on the approach so guests read it as part of the sequence rather than a service room.

06
Private

The palette lightens upstairs

One restrained palette runs through the house and shifts in weight: dark and enclosed at arrival, warm and lit in the entertaining rooms, calm and pale in the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Principal bedroom with full-height fluted upholstered headboard wall, dressing shelving and glazing to one side — Principal bedroom The full-height headboard wraps the corner so the bed feels built into the architecture, while the rest of the room stays low, pale and restrained.

Principal bathroom, symmetrical marble room with vanity to one side, bath to the other and a stone pier framing the opening back to the bedroom — Principal bathroom The bathroom is arranged symmetrically, with the vanity and bath balanced on either side and the opening back to the bedroom held between them. The restrained palette keeps the focus on proportion, light and material.

07
Outcome

A complete transformation, delivered without starting again, and without any part of the old house being visible as a compromise.

Services: Architecture · Interior design · Design development · Project leadership
Retained: Frame, slab lines, double-height void, single-storey wing

Next project A home ready to live in View