2020 National Architecture Awards: The Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)

Jury citation

Great additions and alterations unlock possibilities for living in places – revealing, transforming and recasting the way houses and sites work together.

Redwood is a sinuous addition that billows down a steep site on Sydney Harbour, slipped in alongside a meticulously restored 1840s cottage. Street level and water level are five storeys apart, and Redwood creates a sequence of spaces, anchored by a long stair, that deftly orchestrates both the functional requirements of a comfortable house as well as a theatrical grand reveal of the spectacular views to the garden and harbour.

The addition cleverly converts an existing car stacker into bedrooms, extending the language of the addition across its front, and integrates existing sandstone retaining walls with crisp new garden elements expressed in concrete and steel. On the southern side of the site, the new addition tackles the proximity of an apartment building on the adjacent site by creating privacy for the occupants but also amenity for neighbours through a bushy planted roof; the addition is like a promontory.

All additions and alterations have to contend with the challenges of existing fabric, functional requirements, neighbours and streetscape. Projects like Redwood show us that the delight of architecture can be found, rather than lost, in this context. The passage from the front door, down the stair (gently curved, preventing you from seeing where it ends), through a compressed then expanded volume to the dining and living rooms – where the junction between land and water is occluded from view, placing you in the harbour – is a deeply memorable experience. Chenchow Little has made architecture that is exquisite, confident and highly compelling.

Project credits

Architect Chenchow Little; Project team Tony Chenchow, Gerald Lau, Stephanie Little; Builder Beebo Constructions; Structural and hydraulic engineer Partridge; Landscape consultant 360 Degrees; Heritage consultant Matthew Byrnes.

Redwood is located in East Balmain, New South Wales, on the land of the Gadigal and Darug peoples of the Eora nation.