Twin Peaks House is a vibrant extension to a grand Edwardian homestead in Kensington. Originally built in 1913 for a wealthy family of butchers, when the surrounding landscape was pasture from horizon to horizon, the homestead endured as its acreage was carved up and subdivided into smaller terrace allotments. Our clients discovered the property decades ago during long walks around their neighbourhood, promising themselves that they would buy it should the opportunity ever arise. Many years later the opportunity did arise, and our clients made the leap. Not long after, they commissioned us to update the home for their family of five. They asked us to replace the pokey rear end of the house, shabbily renovated in the 1980s, with a generous extension that matched the scale of the original home and its voluminous garden. Our design intervention extends the massing of the original gable-roofed house towards the back garden, accommodating kids’ bedrooms, living areas downstairs and main bedroom suite tucked away upstairs gabled volume to the east earns the project its name, duplicating the main roof pitch at a smaller scale and housing dining, kitchen, laundry and informal entry. This arrangement of rooms supports our clients’ busy lifestyles with zones of communal and individual living, places to be together and places to be alone. The living area pivots around the kitchen island, positioned carefully to entice our clients' energetic teenaged boys with the aroma of cooking. A sculpted deck runs the length of the garden elevation, facing swimming pool, borrowed landscape and the sun. A first-floor hideout attached to the main bedroom floats above, vertical screening providing prospect and refuge. Neither quite indoors nor out, these spaces act as threshold between both, protected from the rain and flexibly dimensioned for either entertaining or retreat. Galvanised steel continuously wraps the exterior of the extension, distilling the decorative heritage of the original’s walls, roofs and gables into two cohesive volumes. The masculinity in this form-making is balanced by a light-filled, feminine interior. Its material palette of pale timbers and pastel shades are set against a textured white backdrop, with 2400mm high datum adding a human scale to the raked ceilings. Celebrating the tension between these design moves is a dramatic, top-lit 7m high void that slices through the centre of the house. Another type of threshold, the void bridges the old and the new, the private and the public, the formal and the informal. It acts as a clear spatial marker for each of these transitions and a living relic of the home’s long history.

The goal of this project was to replace a small single-story seasonal family cottage with a year-round home that takes advantage of the views and topography of this lakefront site while providing privacy for the occupants. The program called for a large open living area, a master suite, study, a small home gym and five additional bedrooms. The style was to be distinctly contemporary. The house is shielded from the street by the placement of the garage and by limiting the amount of window area facing the road. The main entry is recessed and glazed with frosted glass for privacy. Due to the narrowness of the site and the proximity of the neighboring houses, the windows on the sides of the house were also limited and mostly high up on the walls. The limited fenestration on the front and sides is made up for by the full wall of glass on the lake side, facing north. The house is anchored by an exposed masonry foundation. This masonry also cuts through the center of the house on the fireplace chimney to separate the public and private spaces on the first floor, becoming a primary material on the interior. The house is clad with three different siding material: horizontal longboard siding, vertical ribbed steel siding and cement board panels installed as a rain screen. The standing seam metal-clad roof rises from a low point at the street elevation to a height of 24 feet at the lakefront to capture the views and the north light. The house is organized into two levels and is entered on the upper level. This level contains the main living spaces, the master suite and the study. The angled stair railing guides visitors into the main living area. The kitchen, dining area and living area are each distinct areas within one large space. This space is visually connected to the outside by the soaring ceilings and large fireplace mass that penetrate the exterior wall. The lower level contains the children’s and guest bedrooms, a secondary living space and the home gym.

Florida home exterior entry featuring mahogany wood, white travertine, gas lanterns, a reflecting pool and a custom offset pivot hinge front door.
マイアミにあるラグジュアリーな中くらいなコンテンポラリースタイルのおしゃれな家の外観 (混合材サイディング) の写真

ポートランドにある高級なコンテンポラリースタイルのおしゃれな家の外観 (混合材サイディング、マルチカラーの外壁) の写真

Built under contract, this home boasted a pavillion style main living area, with full height full width joinery to take in the expansive views over Brightwater. Clad in a mixture of stucco and Hardies Linea, it showcased everything that's bold about the contemporary style.

Overseeing the construction of the new build of this residential home. (Role: Project Manager/New Build Consultant)
他の地域にあるラグジュアリーなコンテンポラリースタイルのおしゃれな家の外観 (混合材サイディング、下見板張り) の写真

Our client wanted a walkway extension from the outside kitchen connecting to the deck and outdoor workshop.
ヒューストンにあるラグジュアリーな中くらいなコンテンポラリースタイルのおしゃれな家の外観 (混合材サイディング、黄色い外壁、ウッドシングル張り) の写真

LAVORI DI RISTRUTTURAZIONE CON AMPLIAMENTO CASA UNIFAMILIARE , ZONA DOLO (VE) ,
ヴェネツィアにある高級なコンテンポラリースタイルのおしゃれな家の外観 (混合材サイディング) の写真

Our client wanted a walkway extension from the outside kitchen connecting to the deck and outdoor workshop.
ヒューストンにあるラグジュアリーな中くらいなコンテンポラリースタイルのおしゃれな家の外観 (混合材サイディング、黄色い外壁、ウッドシングル張り) の写真

ポートランドにある高級なコンテンポラリースタイルのおしゃれな家の外観 (混合材サイディング、マルチカラーの外壁) の写真

LAVORI DI RISTRUTTURAZIONE CON AMPLIAMENTO CASA UNIFAMILIARE , ZONA DOLO (VE)
ヴェネツィアにある高級なコンテンポラリースタイルのおしゃれな家の外観 (混合材サイディング) の写真

アリカンテにある高級な中くらいなコンテンポラリースタイルのおしゃれな家の外観 (混合材サイディング、混合材屋根) の写真

ヒューストンにあるラグジュアリーなコンテンポラリースタイルのおしゃれな家の外観 (混合材サイディング) の写真

Passive heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation. Contemporary Cracker style design. Long cypress timber eaves. Metal roof. Integrated solar panels. Working horse ranch. LEED Platinum home.

Exposed cypress timber beams. Covered outdoor dining. Separate salt water pool and spa. Polished concrete coping. FSC Ipe deck. LEED Platinum home. Photos by Matt McCorteney.

Passive heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation. Contemporary Cracker style design. Long cypress timber eaves. Metal roof. Integrated solar panels. Working horse ranch. LEED Platinum home.

Passive heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation. Contemporary Cracker style design. Long cypress timber eaves. Metal roof. Integrated solar panels. Working horse ranch. LEED Platinum home.

Passive heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation. Contemporary Cracker style design. Long cypress timber eaves. Metal roof. Integrated solar panels. Working horse ranch. LEED Platinum home.

Passive heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation. Contemporary Cracker style design. Long cypress timber eaves. Metal roof. Integrated solar panels. Working horse ranch. LEED Platinum home.