The Urban Cottage

Set into a steep inner-city hillside, this project unfolds as a careful extension of an existing cottage—less an act of replacement than one of accretion. The house grows outward and upward through a series of measured gestures, responding quietly to slope, neighbours and street, and allowing the old and new to settle into a shared equilibrium.

A weighty masonry base, housing the home’s more private spaces, anchors the building to the land. Above, lighter forms lift and open, drawing in light, air and long views across the city and its surrounds. Operable timber screens temper exposure and climate, animating the façade as they shift through the day and lending the house a sense of occupation and change.

The upper level is conceived as a pavilion beneath a folded roof—at once familiar and reimagined—echoing the pitched forms of the surrounding roofscape while asserting its own contemporary presence. A restrained palette of brick, render and metal provides durability and calm, softened by the warmth and tactility of timber. Together, these elements shape a house that feels grounded yet open: confident without being overbearing, attentive to its context, and designed to age with grace and use.