Sporting a bushman’s beard, black shirt and jeans and R. M. Williams boots, architect Brad Swartz has a quiet presence. A modern-day minimalist, his work combines rigorous architectural planning, restraint with materials, and uncommon inventiveness with space and details.
His latest completed project, Hat House (2022) in Sydney’s industrial inner-west, is unassuming yet complex. This deft revision of a semi-detached, single-storey dwelling demonstrates the easy elegance and spatial purity that have become a signature of Brad Swartz Architects. The project adds no more than 13 square metres to the existing footprint, but radically alters how it feels and functions.
“We called it Hat House because the main architectural move is a roofline that extends up over the rear
