Sydney-based architect Domenic Alvaro usually designs multi-storey apartment buildings in Sydney. But the techniques he’s applied in this small building can be easily adapted in those projects
“The cost of apartments is getting higher so there’s pressure to keep affordable product on the market,” says Alvaro. This means finding ways to make smaller spaces seem more liveable or, as Alvaro puts it, “to improve your ability to live within the available space”.
These lessons have already been absorbed by Alvaro’s clients. He has designed a larger family home on the same property for them, but none of them seems to think ever they’ll bother building it. They’ve learned their current arrangement – the converted stables for themselves and the new cottage for guests – is all they need. Nobody is expressing any regrets about the big dream home that will probably never be. “We are really embracing small,” one of the owners says, happy that they already have enough.
Words by: Jeremy Hansen
Photography by: Patrick Reynolds
