The Skylight House inverts a traditional Victorian terrace house in Sydney, Australia. Completed in 2010 by Chenchow Little Architects, the residence undertook alterations and additions to form incredible living quarters. The living rooms are relocated to the top floor where there is better access to views and sunlight, and the secondary bedrooms were placed on the ground floor. The design was imagined as two fluid horizontal planes that have been inserted within the traditional envelope; one folding to form a ground plane that mediates the natural ground levels along the site; and a second along the ceiling line which fragments and undulates to permit sunlight into the length of the building. The ground plane has been cut around a central courtyard containing an endemic Banksia Integrifolia which, along with the sculptural southern facing skylight, brings light into the living, kitchen and dining spaces. These two planes act as spatial dividers as well as create a light filled, open fluid space unfamiliar in a traditional terrace house.

Visit the website of Chenchow Little Architects here.

Photos: John Gollings & Katherine Lu