Two underlying principles: revive and reutilise. 19 Waterloo Street by SJB
09/11/2023.
[Surry Hills - NSW] Australia
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
This small house attached to another rehabilitated corner house, designed by the Australian studio SJB, is part of a group of small residential gems, which are helping to reactivate this neighborhood in the dense urban jungle of Sydney's Surry Hills.
So small that they go unnoticed by passersby and are located in the type of sites that are often considered too difficult to develop. The new residence is located just behind the corner house, a more spacious building with an independent house on top of a warehouse reused as commercial space.
So small that they go unnoticed by passersby and are located in the type of sites that are often considered too difficult to develop. The new residence is located just behind the corner house, a more spacious building with an independent house on top of a warehouse reused as commercial space.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
00 Floor plan. 19 Waterloo Street by SJB.
01 Floor plan. 19 Waterloo Street by SJB.
02 Floor plan. 19 Waterloo Street by SJB.
03 Floor plan. 19 Waterloo Street by SJB.
Roof plan. 19 Waterloo Street by SJB.
Section. 19 Waterloo Street by SJB.
The new residence is located in a meager space of 30 square meters, with stamped sections of bricks that form the façade of number 19 Waterloo Street, designed by SJB architecture director Adam Haddow for him and his husband Michael to live with their puppy Eric. An architecture piece different from the large-scale projects the practice is best known for.
The project is informed by the playful houses that feature in movies by French director Jacques Tati, according to studio director Adam Haddow wanted to lean on his university thesis project that investigated stretching and manipulating space through film. 19 Waterloo Street features a patchwork-like facade made from reclaimed materials and broken bricks.
The house increased the programmatic potential through multiple uses by making better use of the entire site, a new multi-story dwelling that provides a total internal area of 69 square meters. The staircase is the piece around which the program of served or in-service spaces orbits. The service spaces are short with 2.1m ceilings – storage, kitchen, robe, and ensuite, while the served spaces are grand with 3.6m ceilings – study, living, and bedroom.
Programmatic diversity, density, and opportunity have been increased while a once-blank streetscape has been revitalized. Ultimately the project is about sustainability, doing more with less, reusing a site, reusing materials and better using an existing well-connected place.
The project is informed by the playful houses that feature in movies by French director Jacques Tati, according to studio director Adam Haddow wanted to lean on his university thesis project that investigated stretching and manipulating space through film. 19 Waterloo Street features a patchwork-like facade made from reclaimed materials and broken bricks.
The house increased the programmatic potential through multiple uses by making better use of the entire site, a new multi-story dwelling that provides a total internal area of 69 square meters. The staircase is the piece around which the program of served or in-service spaces orbits. The service spaces are short with 2.1m ceilings – storage, kitchen, robe, and ensuite, while the served spaces are grand with 3.6m ceilings – study, living, and bedroom.
Programmatic diversity, density, and opportunity have been increased while a once-blank streetscape has been revitalized. Ultimately the project is about sustainability, doing more with less, reusing a site, reusing materials and better using an existing well-connected place.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
Project description by SJB
19 Waterloo Street is buried amongst the chaos of warehouses and terraces that once served Sydney’s rag trade. A corner terrace with decades of architectural detritus had engulfed the site with a never-ending cascade of additions and lean-tos with the odd weed surviving between the cracks of the concrete path. As a butcher, a grocer, a window workshop, a hatter, and finally a design studio, each with the attached rooms above, the original building had had a checkered past.
Our intent was to deliver a mixed-use house, breaking up the site to deliver more. Our ambition: a shop, a self-contained flat, and a home. Three uses out of one.
The new addition at the rear of the site is accommodated on just 30 sqm and has a total internal area of 69 sqm. Using a split section, the stair is the pinwheel around which the house moves. The dwelling is divided into spaces that are served or in service. The service spaces are short with 2.1m ceilings – storage, kitchen, robe, and ensuite, while the served spaces are grand with 3.6m ceilings – study, living, and bedroom. With a maximum depth of 3.3 meters, light and ventilation are at your fingertips, always connecting you to the energy of the day while lending the house a strong sense of urbanity – you are living in the city.
19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Photograph by Anson Smart.
Externally the house is playful and textured – riffing the motives and materiality of the suburb that surrounds it. A little like a house from a Jacques Tati film, the façade feels alive with personality. Reclaimed bricks form the canvas, discarded broken ones reflect the historic sandstone base of the surrounding streets and are cut and folded to hide openings and protect views, while the upper bricks shift in scale to frame windows and support planting.
During the making of the house artists were commissioned to present a generous edge. The front gate is a cast bronze sculpture by Mika Utzon-Popov, and an all-enveloping landscape painting by Nicholas Harding in the living room is able to be viewed from the street.
More information
Architects
SJB Sydney.
Project team
Adam Haddow, Stewart Cowan.
Collaborators
Structural engineer.- Van der Meer.
Project manager.- Promena Projects.
Landscape architect.- Dangar Barin Smith.
Town planner.- SJB Planning.
Aboriginal Nation.- Gadigal.
Site Details.- Site type Urban.
Home Automation.- Winnings Applicances.
Artists.- Nicholas Harding, Mika Utzon-Popov, Kate Bergin.
Brick supply.- Krause Bricks.
Project manager.- Promena Projects.
Landscape architect.- Dangar Barin Smith.
Town planner.- SJB Planning.
Aboriginal Nation.- Gadigal.
Site Details.- Site type Urban.
Home Automation.- Winnings Applicances.
Artists.- Nicholas Harding, Mika Utzon-Popov, Kate Bergin.
Brick supply.- Krause Bricks.
Builder
Promena Projects.
Area
30 sqm.
Dates
2022 - Completed 2023.
Location
19 Waterloo Street, Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia.
Photography
Alan Synman, Charles Justin, Michael Bialek. SJB
SJB. Architecture studio founded in Melbourne in 1976 by Alan Synman, Charles Justin, and Michael Bialek, SJB formed from a mutual passion for architecture and a shared commitment to collaboration. Almost five decades later, they are a multi-studio collective of experts in architecture, urban design, interiors, and planning.
The scale and nature of their work varies greatly – from significant urban developments to intimate rural residences; from implementing and revising planning processes to reimagining public parkland. When they design, they think about every experience – whether that be shaping a moment or shaping a metropolis.
The scale and nature of their work varies greatly – from significant urban developments to intimate rural residences; from implementing and revising planning processes to reimagining public parkland. When they design, they think about every experience – whether that be shaping a moment or shaping a metropolis.
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