Lilyfield House

Name Lilyfield House
Client Private Client
Country Gadigal, Wangal
Location Lilyfield, NSW
Year 2001

Designed in collaboration by TZG founding director Peter Tonkin and Ellen Woolley Architect, this robust brick house stands on a constrained site capturing far city views, shielded from an adjacent major traffic artery with a thick rampart.

This sliver of land at the edge of a dense inner Sydney suburb was a place of sandstone outcrops and severe cross-fall. There were dramatic views from the site, west to the eucalypt trees, and east to the dramatic city skyline.

The use of heavy brickwork on the south wall refers to the vanishing industrial heritage of the area. To the north, the living room and bedrooms are expressed in timber framing, scaled and detailed in relation to the with adjoining Victorian houses.

The principles of environmental sustainability strongly determine the cross section of the design. Through a tilted roof, sunlight is brought down behind the protective southern rampart via the three-levelled walkway.

A walkway is extended beyond the house interior to form an entry bridge and upper balcony. Doubling as a three-storey artwork, the rampart is composed of black glazed bricks in contrasting gloss levels, pixelated to hint at a detail from a Caravaggio painting.

Active and passive ESD systems include natural cross ventilation with clerestory ‘breeze catchers’, a heat pump and cooling system for in-floor temperature control, and computer-modelled sun shading. Low-energy and recycled materials are used throughout, chosen for their sensuous finish and enduring substance.

Awards

2003 RAIA Merit Award – Commendation

Team

Peter Tonkin.

Collaborator

Ellen Woolley.

Photographer

Patrick Bingham-Hall, Richard Glover.

Previous Project:
Bellevue Hill Apartments

Next Project:
Pavilions on the Bay

Lilyfield House

This sliver of land at the edge of a dense inner Sydney suburb was a place of sandstone outcrops and severe cross-fall. There were dramatic views from the site, west to the eucalypt trees, and east to the dramatic city skyline.

The use of heavy brickwork on the south wall refers to the vanishing industrial heritage of the area. To the north, the living room and bedrooms are expressed in timber framing, scaled and detailed in relation to the with adjoining Victorian houses.

The principles of environmental sustainability strongly determine the cross section of the design. Through a tilted roof, sunlight is brought down behind the protective southern rampart via the three-levelled walkway.

A walkway is extended beyond the house interior to form an entry bridge and upper balcony. Doubling as a three-storey artwork, the rampart is composed of black glazed bricks in contrasting gloss levels, pixelated to hint at a detail from a Caravaggio painting.

Related projects

Almora House

Bronte House

Killcare House

Pearl Beach House

TZG acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, on whose land we work and pay our respects to Elders past, present and future. We are committed to a just, equitable and reconciled Australia and support the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Always was, always will be.

TZG acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, on whose land we work and pay our respects to Elders past, present and future. We are committed to a just, equitable and reconciled Australia and support the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Always was, always will be.