A Light-Filled Family Home

Realised by Carla Middleton Architecture, this compact Sydney family home was designed to embrace natural light thanks to a clever use of space, openings and materials. Founder Carla Middleton spoke to us about the project

Design Anthology: What was the brief to you for the project?

Carla Middleton: The brief was to design a light-filled, semi-detached dwelling with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and an open, private living area for a family of four. I often hear clients saying they want to maximise the site, so it was a breath of fresh air to have a client come to us and say that they wanted to achieve the space requirements for their family without being excessive.

What’s unique about the building and the location?

The abundance of natural light. We designed an open kitchen, living and dining space with a high pitched ceiling, high doors and windows to draw in the northern light, and a 2.6-metre long skylight. The eastern side of the house has an apartment building with balconies that look directly at the site, so large skylights and the use of fluted glass for the door were great solutions to provide plenty of natural light while maintaining privacy.      

How did you approach the project? What design references did you try to incorporate into the space?

The main challenge was ensuring we could fit in enough bedrooms and bathrooms while balancing the project with sufficient practical living space. A lot of our projects feature bright spaces with a focus on verticality. If we can’t go out, we go up – designing vertically provides such a sense of space. And then you add natural light to it and it lifts the space immediately.

Do you have a favourite element or design detail in the architecture?

Our experimentation with plywood. We used standard plywood, which is a common building material used as a structural substrate and bracing material given its laminated properties. It provides strength and a lovely texture with large grains, knots and imperfections.

Images by Tom Ferguson
Landscape by Studio UC
Styling by Tess Thyregod