Skylight Terrace

Skylight Terrace is the home of a family with two young, energetic boys, set within a four-storey terrace in Paddington, Sydney. The renovation focused on the primary living areas on the lowest level, one storey below the street and level with the rear courtyard and laneway. Here the kitchen, living room, bathroom, laundry and cellar had felt compressed and subterranean, with a deep plan and low ceiling that starved the spaces of daylight.

Bringing natural light into the deep, narrow plan was the central objective. The living room ceiling was raked towards the rear of the site and capped with a full-width skylight, capturing uninterrupted views of the sky and creating an illusion of infinite space, a rare commodity in such a high-density area. Because the outlook is upward, the view will not be lost to future development, and there is a quiet pleasure in being unaware of how close the neighbours sit.

The existing staircase, once a dog-leg leading into the former bathroom and through the centre of a galley kitchen, was reconfigured to streamline circulation. This opened up room for a large island bench that now defines the cooking zone. Excavating further towards the street added much-needed circulation space and the right conditions for a cellar. The southern party wall was conceived as a spine of joinery, concealing the essentials of daily life, the laundry, fridge, storage and the children's toys, behind panels whose rhythm connects and unites the spaces.

The material palette is deliberately minimal and timeless. White walls, ceilings and joinery sit alongside robust Caesarstone 'concrete' bench tops, while timber floors add warmth and tie back to the existing upper levels. A mirrored splashback stretches the sense of space and bounces daylight deeper into the plan. The result is a theatrical, playful living area made for family life.

Project size 55 m2 on a 154 m2 site. Completed 2016 across four levels.

Architect: Josephine Hurley Architecture. Photography: Tom Ferguson.