Hastings van Nunen House by Ian Moore Architects

Hastings van Nunen House sits within the Surry Hills heritage conservation area of Sydney, on the site of a former butcher's shop. The building began life as an annexe to the adjoining terrace house, where the butcher would have lived. Originally a shop at street level with two children's bedrooms above and a freestanding cool room in the rear yard, the door openings that once linked the two buildings remain visible on both levels but were bricked up when the property was previously converted to a separate residence. The original shopfront was removed at the same time, the front room floor was raised and a timber floor inserted. A rudimentary kitchen and stair had also been added between the rear of the shop and the original cool room, which was itself converted to a bathroom with a bedroom added above.

The brief was to introduce a new kitchen and a rooftop extension housing the main bedroom and ensuite, while retaining the original butcher's shop as the principal living space. The new work is conceived as a 'Z' shaped element: a horizontal kitchen leg at the lower level running toward the rear yard, a vertical stairwell, and a further horizontal leg on the upper level running back toward the street and containing the main bedroom. The kitchen sits at the intersection of the circulation paths to the rear yard, stair and bathroom, with the rounded end of a 'hockey stick' bench acting as the pivot point for these movements and seating a family table at the centre of the home.

Fully tiled kitchen walls reference the original butcher's shop tiling that is still intact on the internal walls of the living and dining area at the front of the house. The third storey addition is set back from the existing parapet, preserving the original building form and heritage character while allowing a small roof terrace to sit between old and new. A freestanding wardrobe forms the bedhead, with the ensuite to the rear beside the new stair. The 'Z' shaped additions are expressed as a contemporary insertion and clad in white aluminium composite panels, contrasting with the original brickwork. The new kitchen floor is polished concrete; the upper levels are finished in black linoleum. The owners are an art consultant and an art director and artist with two young boys, and the house was designed to provide hanging and display space for their art collection.

Architect: Ian Moore Architects (Ian Moore). Stylist: Tess Strelein. Photography: Daniel Mayne.