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Issue 60 - The Kitchen and Bathroom Issue

Issue 60

The Kitchen and Bathroom Issue

HABITUS has always stood ahead of the rest with a dedicated Kitchen and Bathroom issue of exemplar standards. For issue 60 we have taken it up a notch with our Guest Editor the extraordinary, queen of kitchen design, Sarah-Jane Pyke of Arent&Pyke, speaking directly to Kitchen and Bathroom design with some increadable insights.

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Winnings x Habitus House of the Year shortlist: Maitland Bay House by Studio Bright
HomesHabitusliving Editor

Winnings x Habitus House of the Year shortlist: Maitland Bay House by Studio Bright

Australia

Habitus House of the Year 2024 Nominee

Architecture

Studio Bright

Photography

Rory Gardiner

Maitland Bay House by Studio Bright has been shortlisted for Winnings x Habitus House of the Year 2024.


Located on the central coast of NSW, next to Boudii National Park, with views down to Maitland Bay across the surrounding native bushland, this new house, for a family relocating to the coast, resolves the difficulties of a sloping site, bushfire regulations and a site compressed between neighbouring properties.

The plan is a careful negotiation between these constraints while providing living spaces that capture northern light and views, as well as sensitively responding to the ecology of the site and adjacent properties.

The built form is defined by the two wings that control the entry sequence and work around the mature Angophora trees. The transparency of the breezeway provides views out to the ocean from the street. A generosity that sits in contrast to the neighbouring houses that typically form a barrier to the view. At once breezeway, verandah, passageway and buffer zone, this entirely operable link space tunes the response appropriate to the changing day.

While the site is magnificent, adjoining houses with a suburban degree of boundary proximity on either side of the title pose privacy and compromised outlook problems. Much of the massing thought went to redirecting outlook and capturing the illusion of singular untouched landscape views.

The resultant angular massing balances its irregularity with a uniformity of material selection to ensure the house sits quietly in the landscape and generates a sympathetically toned background against which to appreciate the extraordinary beauty of the sinuous Angophora trunks.

The overall form is robust and protecting but also porous and connected to the landscape and the ever-changing views over Maitland Bay.

Read about the 2024 Winnings x Habitus House of the Year shortlist: Proclamation House by State of Kin


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Habitusliving Editor

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Habitus House of the YearHabitus House of the Year 2024heritagehomeHome ArchitecturehomesHOTYHOTY 2024HOTY 2024 NomineeInterior Design


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Issue 60 - The Kitchen and Bathroom Issue

Issue 60

The Kitchen and Bathroom Issue

HABITUS has always stood ahead of the rest with a dedicated Kitchen and Bathroom issue of exemplar standards. For issue 60 we have taken it up a notch with our Guest Editor the extraordinary, queen of kitchen design, Sarah-Jane Pyke of Arent&Pyke, speaking directly to Kitchen and Bathroom design with some increadable insights.

Order Issue