“a terrace-house located in the leafy suburban streets of Sydney’s Newtown, nestled into a narrow site backing onto the Carriageworks cultural precinct.”

Oye Mi Canto House

Full of natural light, plants and featuring an honest material palette, this extension project for a growing family of 5 provides the needed additional space on a tight site footprint while providing all the comforts that good architecture enjoys.

Photography by Murray Fredericks, Michael Lassman

Cinematography by Alexander Lee

About this home

The brief

Oye Mi Canto House is an alterations and additions project on a terrace-house located in the leafy suburban streets of Sydney’s Newtown, nestled into a narrow site backing onto the Carriageworks cultural precinct.

The site

Heritage conservation

While retaining the heritage-significant street facing façade and front bedroom, by extending the rear building line and introducing an internal courtyard, the house has been systematically transformed into three pavilions.

The design

Front Pavilion

The bedroom and bathroom front pavilion is made up by four modest bedrooms and two bathrooms and sits beneath the existing gable roof form of the home, with an extension to the first floor providing the spatial relief needed for the young family of five to be able to live comfortably as the children grow older and gain independence.

Living Pavilion

An internal courtyard lush with vegetation separates the more traditional private-space pavilion from the shared living space pavilion, with a hallway connection providing access to both pavilions as well as the courtyard space. The courtyard provides both a vital burst of natural light to the centre of the site as well as screening windows to the neighbour’s home through native Australian vegetation. Living, Dining and Kitchen spaces are integrated to this second pavilion beneath the striking skillion roof, making efficient use of the tight floor space.

Rear Pavilion - Art Studio

The third pavilion stands alone at the rear of the site, but through form, material and proportion is inherently linked to the new living pavilion. Functioning as an open-air artists’ studio as well as an covered outdoor space, this Art Shed becomes a conduit for both creativity and entertaining for the family.