Portland Street Duplex is a three story contemporary property designed by MPR Design Group, located in Sydney’s suburb of Dover Heights, in New South Wales, Australia. This sloping site incorporates two attached dwellings designed to maximize the expansive views west towards Sydney harbor while each incorporating generous and intimate living areas, three bedrooms and basement rumpus room.

A careful balance between transparency, materiality and solidity of the building’s outer skin was carefully considered. The street elevation was designed to ensure a cohesive appearance between both dwellings while subtly alluding to two distinct homes. This was predominantly achieved through a clean white concrete frame elevated above street level with horizontal and vertical western red cedar infill timber privacy screens at the entry.

On the western facade a balance between maximizing views and providing sufficient shading was achieved through a large cantilevered roof. The corners at the living room level are completely unobstructed opening up the entire upper floor to this dramatic aspect.

Highlight windows and two large skylights on the upper level (with performance glazing) wash the interior space with natural light complimenting the use of energy efficient LED lighting and an extensive photovoltaic array for both properties.

The lower ground floor rumpus room opens to a landscaped rear yard with pool providing a grand view of the rear elevation as it steps up the hill.

Photos: Brett Boardman