Sydney Harbour’s bays and peninsulas create complex topographies within the city’s inner suburbs. Often ignored in town planning of old, extreme shifts in height are now inspiring new adaptations of disorganized cottages.
Until recently, this house in Balmain was an unremarkable brick cottage on a double-width block. The home was perched too high above the street and poked out from the surrounding rooftops, while the vacant half of the site was held above a laneway by a publicly owned retaining wall. This topography many perceived as a burden – but in the hands of the right architect, it became a gift.
Saha’s reworking of Balmain House has a simple plan. The cottage
