Eyelid House designed by Fiona Winzar Architects, Turning this tight and difficult inner city site into a home for a family of five is an important contribution to contemporary and sustainable design practice, where issues of energy efficiency and waste loom large in society.

The starting point for this project was a typical single fronted Victorian terrace, pokey and dark. Transforming it into a generous, light-filled open plan, three-bedroom, a two-bathroom house was the challenge.

An important aspect of the design is how it responds to the difficult site conditions, in particular:

? The heritage overlay

? A super-tight site with restricted access

? A domineering three-story apartment block on one side

? A three-story hotel at the rear
Clearly, the lack of space and privacy were major issues. To resolve them, a key feature of the design is the roof form of the extension. Its shape has been manipulated like an eyelid, to screen off the three-story neighboring giant, and to provide shade and weather protection to the rear glass façade. The unusual internal spaces that result are emphasized with tessellated plywood paneling and translucent materials.

The clients’ lack of pretension and relaxed lifestyle meant that a pristine white box with designer furniture was not something that would work for them. With young children, they wanted spaces to be informal, warm and functional. The design used a layering of ideas to respond to the brief, but mainly the result w...