Manly House

Archer Breakspear/Tomahawk Studios has transformed a stacked duplex in Manly into a single, two-bedroom home that unlocks the potential of its beachside location.

A brief to turn a six-bedroom duplex block into a two-bedroom home isn’t typical, but it holds incredible potential for an architect. It promises to break the shackles of quantitative real-estate-ness and its master, known as resale value and it implies an opportunity to explore more expansive spaces without the need to expand the building physically. With the pressure to increase floor space removed, opportunities for a truly creative interpretation of the brief can be brought to the fore.

Tomek Archer and Toby Breakspear approached this commission with consideration and finesse. The pair, who recently established the multidisciplinary practice Archer Breakspear, are also part of Tomahawk Studios, a research and design company that is run in parallel with Archer Breakspear. Tomek and Toby’s clients presented them with a beachside duplex that had one apartment on the top level and another on the lower. The clients were particularly attracted to it because it was one of the oldest residential buildings in the area and despite its flaws, they were keen to see it used – it had generous ceiling heights, strong brick walls and considered timber detailing.

It was, however, one of those truly belligerent buildings that pay little heed to their location. The upper floor had a balcony at its south-east corner, with a corresponding verandah on the lower level, but that was about it. An expansive view was available to the building, but was not particularly taken advantage of, and certainly not well integrated with the internal spaces. The previous owners had done a bit of work to the building for resale, but essentially it was still in its original configuration.

There is a generosity about the brief that allowed the architects to develop a formal response to unlocking the potential of the building. In deconstructing the old duplex block, the architects employed “a series of careful cuts to the walls, floor and roof to create a continuous flow of spaces.” These cuts enabled the building to be pulled apart so that a new home could be woven back into the existing building envelope.

The first storey has been completely opened up to create a single, expansive space.

The first storey has been completely opened up to create a single, expansive space.

Image: Peter Bennetts

Walls and floors have been removed to allow space to flow. Removing a room on each of the floors has created a new void on the north side of the building, occupied by a new, white-painted steel stair. Above this space sits an expansive, north-facing skylight that pierces the envelope and illuminates the finely crafted stair beneath.

The skylight is one of seven new openings introduced into the building fabric. Each opening uses black-steel-framed glazing, but their configurations are all different. According to their particular programs and positions, the openings might materialize as sliding doors, casements or large, fixed frames calibrated to control light and aspect as appropriate.

A new large fixed-glass window over the kitchen bench frames views of treetops. Artwork: Glen Hughes.

A new large fixed-glass window over the kitchen bench frames views of treetops. Artwork: Glen Hughes.

Image: Peter Bennetts

The white stair and new stairwell open the building up and unify old spaces with the new arrangement. Exquisitely made and carefully engineered, the white form is lined with oak treads and risers, the same timber that is used throughout the new house on the floors and joinery.

Private bedrooms and bathrooms are located downstairs, allowing the newly formed large upstairs space – consisting of the kitchen, living and dining spaces, and a more discrete sitting room with a fireplace set off to the side – to act as the vessel for more public interaction. The “careful cuts” have allowed all the upper areas access to the views offered by the hilltop location. The south-east corner has retained some coloured tiles from the old verandah/sunroom, which has been re-engaged with the spatial flow of the house by the removal of some inner walls and doors and the introduction of a series of mechanical steel pivot windows that dramatically open the corner of the room to the valley of Manly, Sydney Harbour and the Pacific Ocean below.

Detailing is finely crafted and well considered, which perhaps reflects the architects’ experience in furniture design and manufacture. Knowledge of how the detail components are manufactured, installed and used is evident in the design’s proportions and the way edges have been considered; this is seen in elements such as window openings, the stair balustrade and the elegant, curved edge of the glass shower screen. All of these components, large and small, have been assembled into a carefully crafted, sophisticated new home.

Generosity is the glue that binds the elements of a project like this together. An unrestricted brief – one that can only come from a client with confidence in their designers – interpreted with a deft hand by architects who know not to squeeze too much in, has resulted in a house that is an elegant, surprising and considered project by a new practice.

Products and materials

Roofing
Existing tiles.
External walls
Existing double brick painted in Taubmans Endure to match Dulux ‘Natural White’.
Internal walls
Existing brickwork painted in Porter’s Paints ‘Lotus’.
Windows
Custom-built fabricated steel windows.
Flooring
American oak floorboards.
Lighting
Yamagiwa Mayuhana pendant; Flos Kap Surface LED ceiling lights; Modular Stove LED surface-mounted lights.
Kitchen
Formply pantry; American oak veneer cupboards; ss bench and integrated sink Barazza cooktop; Ilve oven; Sirius Downdraft rangehood.
Bathroom
ACS Designer Bathrooms fittings.
Heating and cooling
Vental Australia motorized external louvres.
Other
Furniture from Corporate Culture; dining table by Tomahawk Studios.

Credits

Project
Manly House
Architect
Archer Breakspear/Tomahawk Studios
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Project Team
Toby Breakspear, Tomek Archer
Consultants
Builder Cre8ive Building Projects
Engineer SDA Structures
Site Details
Location Manly,  Sydney,  NSW,  Australia
Site area 246 m2
Building area 150 m2
Project Details
Status Built
Design, documentation 5 months
Construction 4 months
Category Residential
Type Alts and adds, New houses

Source

Project

Published online: 7 Jul 2014
Words: David Welsh
Images: Peter Bennetts

Issue

Houses, April 2014

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