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.
More Images
Client & Partner Testimonials
For an architect, Jan’s not an idiot.
Dave Maguire Builder
PlaceMate is trustworthy. If they say they’ll do something, they do it. The finished product makes us all look good. Some architects are really expensive, and the owners have to wait a year to see them. PlaceMate gives just as good a service, quicker and at a reasonable price
Nathan Forbes Rise Constructions
We knew we only had one chance to get the look and the acoustics right and the room also needed to work if we ever sold the home.PlaceMate took into account not just the acoustics, but also the aesthetics of the room. We are delighted with their work
Greg & Trish Elgar Brisbane
Best use of a steep site
PlaceMate topped the state for best use of a sloping site over $250000 at the Queensland Master Builders Association Housing & Construction Awards. The award was for the design of two contemporary townhouses built on a 500sqm site that dropped 10m from a busy road. All the bedrooms and living areas captured picturesque city views.

Best renovation $250-$500,000
PlaceMate took home the prize at the Queensland Master Builders Association Housing & Construction Awards for the best renovation between $250,000 – $500,000. The winning renovation was a 1910 cast concrete Californian bungalow-style home in Indooroopilly. The design added a new wing and unified alterations undertaken in 50s, 70s and 80s.

Recognised in The Courier-Mail
PlaceMate’s skills were recognised in The Courier-Mail 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.