When it comes to gorgeous home extensions and makeovers, some of the most beautiful seem to come from Down Under. The many heritage homes and cottages in Australia’s big cities and their busy suburbs are getting a modern makeover as their homeowners want to give the aging homes a fresh, cheerful interior. Designed by Kreis Grennan Architecture, the Brick Aperture House in Petersham, an inner suburb of Sydney is similar in its overall design with the street façade of the heritage cottage being preserved in favor of an open rear extension.
The Federation-style building’s latest addition is crafted using brick and glass with the sliding glass doors and floor-to-ceiling glass walls allowing ample natural light to flood indoors. It is the ground floor that contains the new kitchen, dining area, laundry room and a bathroom while the upper floor gets a master bedroom along with a small study that overlooks the dining area and the rear garden. While the brick walls on the outside accentuate the heritage style of the neighborhood, on the inside, they are painted white for a more modern, charming backdrop. [Photography: Michael Nicholson]
The addition is connected with an articulated link under the gutter, revealing the connection through a series of skylights. Though strategic placement of glazing, the new volume edits a beautiful view back to a historic sewer stack, in line with three chimneys of the existing dwelling. On the opposite side, the occupant experiences a brick framed aperture…