Enoggera – Modern Pod
Owners Dream
To add space without adding a lot of debt to their modest three-bedroom cottage.
Site Condition
Typically open to a classic suburban backyard all summer, this modernist 50s cottage with low-to-the-ground timber floors retained an easy casual connection with the outside. Inside, rooms were compact and the bathroom felt cramped.
Design Solution
Minimise the costs with minimal alteration to the original structure and instead add value with a two-storey pod outside the kitchen to house the family room and the laundry on the ground floor, and a master suite at the top of a winding stair. Bump out under the eaves to enlarge the bathroom and tuck the shower behind the red tile wall at the back of the vanity. Boundaries between old and new are blurred with the use of materials, roof shape and colours that echo the original house. Stacker doors and windows encourage easy flow from inside to outside. Open corners make compact rooms appear much larger. Storage is everywhere and built into a long window seat under the stairs. The owners’ subsequent design decision to open up the existing kitchen to the living room created even more space.
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Our Happy Clients
Our experience with Placemate Architects was outstanding. They did three
things we appreciated, and nothing we didn’t.
They focused on understanding our needs and what we wanted.
They, Jan specifically, consistently generated creative design options to
assist in the extraordinary number of decisions that need to be made from
the very big to the very small.
And they matched us with exactly the right builder, the excellent Harris
Constructions.
Our decision to work with Placemate Architects meant we got what we wanted,
on time and on budget.
Thank you. I didn’t really understand the drawings, but now the house is finished I can see that you took my ideas and suggestions and made them beautiful. Everything is perfect. Every morning I say to my husband, I love this house.
Frank and Vilma de Silva OwnersRenovating our home with the assistance of Placement and their relationship with Phil Maher Builder was essentially a stress free adventure.
PlaceMate worked with us to achieve our dream home. Our home was modernised without losing the charm of a post war cottage.
Our house has become a functional, open & light filled home. Which is now the central family meeting place.
We even discovered that Architects, Engineers and Builders DO get on and work well together.
Even though our budget was small, through the architectural skills and listening skills, PlaceMate turned our needs into the home we wanted.
Beth & John Owners
Best use of a steep site
PlaceMate designs topped the state at the Queensland Master Builders Association Housing & Construction Awards for best use of a sloping site over $250,000 for two contemporary townhouses built on a 500sqm site that dropped 10 meters from a busy road. All four bedrooms and living areas captured the city views.
Best renovation $250-$500,000
PlaceMate designs took home the prize at the Queensland Master Builders Association Housing & Construction Awards for the best renovation $250,000 – $500,000 for a 1910 cast concrete Californian bungalow-style house in Indooroopilly. The winning design unified alterations undertaken in the 50s, 70s and 80s and added a new wing.
Recognised in The Courier-Mail
PlaceMate’s skills were recognised in The Courier-Mail in January 2016 for our transformation of a Shorncliffe residence originally built around 1910.
Registered with Board of Architects Queensland
Registration Number 2457
Our Client Success Team
Placemate Architects works with successful and innovative clients. Together we achieve significant and lasting transformations of cities, houses and landscapes.
