Family ties: Courtyard Deck House

The owners of this Spanish Mission-style home, reimagined by ZGA Studio, love hanging out as a family and their new rear extension needed to accommodate this. They wanted it to be clean and uncluttered, but they also didn’t want a kitchen that looks like a sterile showroom. “The idea of a relaxed beach house where their three young boys can drag the outside in and not have it matter that they have sticky fingers really appealed to them,” says Zoe Geyer, principal architect at ZGA Studio. Fortunately, their home’s coastal location lends itself to a laid-back lifestyle and Zoe’s resulting material palette is suitably elegant yet necessarily low maintenance.

Off-white tiles provide a neutral background and the exposed brickwork, also finished in off-white, adds texture, while recycled Tasmanian oak floorboards and limed blackbutt joinery inject warmth into the kitchen. However, it’s the handpainted fibre cement ceiling that gives the space its distinct identity, with the immersive, cave-like qualities making the extension feel welcoming. Everyday clutter doesn’t look out of place in this robust materiality, either, and this was the architect’s intent.

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Courtyard Deck House by ZGA Studio

Image: Tatjana Plitt

Zoe deliberately kept the scheme simple to emphasize and frame views of the landscape. Accordingly, the new living areas are open in plan, with the kitchen functioning as the threshold between the generously proportioned lounge and the dining room. Views through east-facing windows to the backyard’s camellia tree and a narrow arch window that frames a large, neighbouring gum give the kitchen the connection to the outdoors that the clients so desired. It made good sense for this rear addition to include a courtyard deck, central to the overall plan, which ensures old and new interiors receive plenty of natural light, while also serving as an alfresco area for entertaining.

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Courtyard Deck House by ZGA Studio

Image: Tatjana Plitt

Every element in the kitchen is working hard to bring a high degree of functionality to a frequently used space. Its joinery unit, for example, not only conceals the appliances cupboard, but also contains two pantries, crockery cupboards and open cookbook shelves. Zoe has extended this sense of efficiency to the renovated bathroom, which also comfortably accommodates the laundry.

Navigating spatial constraints was a challenge in the bathroom, but these have been minimized with the inclusion of a curved bathtub that gives the space more breathing room by practically allowing clear access to the laundry’s joinery. The tub’s rounded edge also serves as the bathroom’s conceptual springboard – it is echoed in a series of curved motifs that are quietly playful yet refined, from the circular mirror and orb-like lights to the timber vanity unit’s round, recessed doorhandle. Even in this confined area, Zoe has successfully fostered a connection with the outdoors, this time via speckled black, grey and yellow terrazzo floor tiles; a whimsical nod to the sandy beaches nearby.