Earlwood timber winner
A reimagined shed takes out a major gong at the 2024 Houses Awards.
A green space at the centre of the building highlights its connections with the natural world.
Timber repeats throughout the interiors and parts of the exterior cladding.
Houses magazine is Australia’s leading residential architecture and interiors publication, so their annual awards attract many entries and are subjected to rigorous judging. Which makes Breakspear Architects’ win for New House over 200 square metres with their Shed House even more of an accomplishment.
Situated in suburban Earlwood, Shed House was designed for a couple running a furniture business and their three children. The ground floor plan is a open space that can be used as both a workshop for building, for relaxation, or for additional family needs, from housing guests to drying laundry during rainy periods. Living areas are on the upper floor arranged around a central garden, with deep connections to the leafy exteriors.
Taking its design guides from both the traditional suburban workshed and classic 1960s Sydney Beachcomber houses, the Breakspear design and builders worked within complying development controls to obtain fast-track development approval. This meant the palette of materials stayed minimal, as did external ornamentation.
The exterior is clad in Zincalume steel, but inside, timber sings. Walls of Blackbutt timber Armourpanel by Big River Group in clear oil finish are warm and dramatic – and also tough for family living and quick to install.
The same plywood panel is used for the kitchen joinery and other details throughout the build, not only delivering an economy when it comes to materials supply but also maintaining a consistent language of materials across both parts of the home.
Blackbutt is also used for the doors and then repeated in cladding for the internal courtyard, verandah decking and joists and pillars.
As the jury citation said: “Evocative of the Australian shed in a suburban context, Shed House achieves a lot with limited means. The jury applauded this readily customisable and replicable model for living and working.”
It’s not the first award Shed House has taken home since its completion last year, it also achieved the Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New) at the 2024 NSW Architecture Awards, putting it in the running for the national gong.
The clients have said, “We love our Shed house. It has changed our lives. It’s beautiful to live and work around the central courtyard, always being able see each other through the garden, being able to feel together yet separate.”
Designers: Toby Breakspear, Alberto Quizon // Built by A.M. Custom Builders // Structural Engineering by Cantilever.
MAIN PIC: Building off the vernacular of the garden shed, this Earlwood residence combines work and living seamlessly.
All images: Tom Ferguson/Breakspear Architects
