Skip To Main Content
Issue 66 - Kitchen & Bathroom Issue

Issue 66

Kitchen & Bathroom Issue

Kitchens and bathrooms are, arguably, the most consequential rooms in the home — and almost always the first to be considered. Whether approached through renovation or new build, their design has the power to recalibrate how a home is lived in and experienced. For this issue, our guest editor, Mardi Doherty, principal of Studio Doherty, explores what it truly means to transform these pivotal spaces — and why thoughtful design in kitchens and bathrooms delivers dividends far beyond the purely functional. Her insights both as an architect and as her own client give an open and honest account of the thinking behind creating a home.

Order Issue

A Product of

Designing solutions
DecorHabitusliving Editor

Designing solutions

Designing and building a house these days isn’t as simple as dreaming up your ideal home and making it. Rules and regulations, heritage conditions and existing site constraints can be highly restrictive but often the best designs are those that turn these restrictions into design opportunities.


 
 
 
Something as simple as a building product can inspire a solution that not only meets the practical criteria, but adds to the aesthetic as well.

The brief for this coastal family home in Sydney’s Northern Beaches was “a contemporary, energy- and water-efficient home that has the elusive ‘wow’ factor and utilises the expansive sea views”. 

 
 
 
 
But along with the potential vistas of the site came potential view-sharing issues with neighbours that needed to be addressed. Council policies also included a restriction of 40 per cent maximum allowable site coverage (which included the building, balconies and driveway), an 8.5m height limit, setbacks on all sides and a building envelope. 
 
The sloping site provided part of the answer to the neighbours’ sight line concerns; and COLORBOND® Ultra steel did the rest. From the street level, the roof level was kept low – as if on a single storey dwelling – which meant looking for an alternative roofing material. 
 
 
Architect Peter Downes of Peter Downes Designs says, “I personally like the iconic informality of COLORBOND® Ultra steel, it suits the beach house design and coastal lifestyle. There’s simplicity in installation and no joints or gaps for leaks to get through.”

Combining long-term durability, high formability and exceptional corrosion resistance, the COLORBOND® Ultra steel in the colour Woodland Grey® was the perfect choice for this site. 

 
With its bold sweeping forms, it becomes both a solution and a feature.

This house won the 2010 Building Designer Association NSW award for best new residential building over 450 square metres. 

 
COLORBOND® Steel 
1800 022 999


About the Author

Habitusliving Editor

Tags

AustraliaMalaysiaNew ZealandoldSingaporeThailand


Related Articles
Issue 66 - Kitchen & Bathroom Issue

Issue 66

Kitchen & Bathroom Issue

Kitchens and bathrooms are, arguably, the most consequential rooms in the home — and almost always the first to be considered. Whether approached through renovation or new build, their design has the power to recalibrate how a home is lived in and experienced. For this issue, our guest editor, Mardi Doherty, principal of Studio Doherty, explores what it truly means to transform these pivotal spaces — and why thoughtful design in kitchens and bathrooms delivers dividends far beyond the purely functional. Her insights both as an architect and as her own client give an open and honest account of the thinking behind creating a home.

Order Issue