2021 Houses Awards: House Alteration and Addition over 200m²

Jury comment

This Brisbane home has a civic presence that contributes to its park-side locale. The new additions translate the form and scale of the original weatherboard cottage with a robust materiality that is fitting of both the heritage of one of the owners and the migrant history of the neighbourhood.

The arrangement of private and shared parts of the house is planned with exceptional clarity. Generous living spaces, designed to accommodate extended multigenerational family gatherings, continue into delightful walled gardens. Considered apertures in the brick and concrete boundary walls provide privacy yet also allow engagement with, and passive surveillance of, the street. An elegantly detailed metal gate offers access to and from the adjacent park. The beautifully articulated design response inverts what might otherwise have been a defensive approach to an exposed corner site.

This thoughtful project takes advantage of its site, not only for the benefit of the young family who lives there but also for the enrichment of the immediate neighbourhood.

For more coverage, read the project review by Jemima Retallack.

The Award for House Alteration and Addition over 200m² is supported by Taubmans. See full image galleries of all the winning and shortlisted projects here.

Highgate Park House is located in Brisbane, Queensland, on the land of the Turrbal and Yuggera people.

Project credits

Architect: Vokes and Peters Project team: Aaron Peters, Stuart Vokes, Emma Robinson Builder: Robson Constructions Engineer: Paterdis Landscape designers: Dan Young Landscape Architect, Werner Weis Landscapes Interiors: Georgia Cannon