A Fibro Revival
Location
Southwest Sydney, Sydney NSW
Size
110 square metres
Status
Completed 2022
The design called for preserving and enhancing the scraps of charm in the existing fibro house.
The success of the project lay in renovating the house without diminishing its key features that gave it charm and character. Ironically, although located in Southwest Sydney (inland), the house evoked a beach-shack quality about it from its original 60s-era windows, and basic layout with strong connection to the garden. Despite its rundown condition, the original house had other redeeming features, such as the reasonably generous 2.7 meter ceiling heights and ornate cornices, unusual for post-war dwellings of this era which were often very basic due to material shortages. All decisions for the renovation to the house were thus guided by a desire to echo, enhance, or play on the era and charming features of the existing house.
Simple but thoughtfully designed joinery around the house created elevated spaces in ordinary places
The roof rafters were exposed, and architraves and skirting boards redesigned to create an embellished quality about the simple living space
The dusty pink palette and square format tiles in the new kitchen draws on the 50-60s heritage of the house
The bathroom was in very poor condition and called for a new configuration
