13 Video Views·May 3, 2026
Draped House is located in Sydney’s North in a typical suburban neighbourhood bordered by bushland, a place characterised by family homes, generous backyards and established trees.
A new build, Draped House emerges on a block characterised by three large gum trees. The most commanding, stands tall at the centre of the site and remains as the focal point of the home. The house is defined by a gently curving roof, which mimics the gradual slope of the site.
Beyond its visual function of tying the house to the landscape, the curve provides privacy from the neighbours on the high side and bends down to open up the living areas to the light. In essence, the structure seems straight-forward, slab on ground, timber framing walls and roof, but when you add the curved rafters on top of 6m walls, built on top of finished burnished structural slab, things start to get a bit more interesting. Add the material and labour shortages on top, with Covid restrictions and site shutdowns, the build no longer looks so simple.
One of the most beautiful things about this house and you see it as soon as you walk in the front
door is this great big tree and it looks great now but it was difficult to build around because
the roots of this tree spread out across the site. Being a concrete slab you've got to dig that all
into the ground and rock. Not only is the tree trunk protected but all the roots are protected
so we had to kind of carefully excavate around all of those. I guess it just takes a level of care
which we kind of drill into all of our staff and all of our contractors that they have that level
of care in excavation, demolition and all the way through to the joinery. The original project was
actually a family development so Laura's granddad lived in the front of the site and this site where
we now have draped house was actually the backyard where she used to play and spend a lot of time
as a grandchild when she was growing up. We were quite constrained by side setbacks
and actually by the position of the existing trees and so the footprint was the clearing
between all the trees and all of the vegetation we wanted to keep. From a material point of view
it's quite simple, it's timber framed, there's very little steel in the structure.
They're all direct materials but I suppose the way they've been executed and the way they've
been designed elevate them. The timber doors you know they're set out perfectly so that
when they're open they close exactly lining up with the full width of the wall and the full
width of the sheet both ways. It's something that we look out for and if it hasn't been
picked up or it's very close we'll try and align that because I think it has a big impact
and it doesn't require any more work it just requires early planning. Any architectural idea
is ultimately executed by a builder and so you can have this grand vision in your head about how
it's going to look and and how it's going to function but the way it actually comes together
in the end is taken carriage of by the builder. Brad being Brad and having the kind of wonderful
mind that he does we often find and found with this project these opportunities throughout the
build or in the late stages of our documentation where we were able to go is there another way we
could do this that is more intelligent in its use of material or going to have better longevity.
Those conversations are so beneficial because they can be things that save time and cost and
ultimately make for a better outcome. We don't just over-order materials and cut it on site and
throw the rest in the bin we try and work out how we can use as little as possible but still
maintain a super tight finish. Coming back today the timber I was you know staring at it thinking
it really looks beautiful even though it's aged I think it's gotten better really and I think that's
what I love about timber it tells the story of where it is where it's been like with those
recycled doors and windows the timber is something that I think is really beautiful.
