Studio Bright’s alteration and addition project at House Freddie reworks a modest 1960s house while preserving the low, horizontal character presented to the street. A new vertical tower becomes its counterpoint, accommodating the dining spaces and main bedroom.
The plan has been clarified to reconnect daily life with the garden. Living spaces step gradually down through the house, arriving at a generous timber-lined dining room positioned directly on grade and closely connected to the landscape.
Rising above this grounded sequence, the breeze block tower introduces a new scale and identity. Stacked concrete blocks create depth, pattern and shadow, while their openness allows light, air and glimpses of planting to filter through the façade.
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Inside the tower, elevated rooms feel both expansive and protected. Warm interiors are partially concealed behind the rational outer screen, giving the addition the character of an inhabitable garden structure rather than a conventional upper storey.
A limited material palette then brings the original house and new work together without erasing their differences. The result is a measured evolution of the mid-century home, strengthening its relationship with the garden while introducing new space, height and openness for contemporary family life.
