Bismarck House in Bondi by Andrew Burges Architects

Bismarck House, located on the southern headland of Sydney’s Bondi, was named after the majestic palm that the house gently stretches around on its laneway façade. Architect Andrew Burges acknowledges that the semi-detached house is a typology he has previously been critical of given the poor amenity associated with the typical planning of these dwellings.

“We sought to be more abstract in terms of views to the sky, or a relationship with some other markers of the coastal geography – topography, landscape, materials, or in this case we organised the project around the laneway”, says Burges.

This organisation around the laneway lends itself to a highly evident move of generosity, giving back to the neighbouring and surrounding context.

Min Dark, the Project Architect from Burges’ office, noted that the practice conducted an analysis of the site to determine what to celebrate and what to screen. Playful fenestration tied in with the considered detailing of the brickwork wall stepping back at the boundary offers landscaped moments to the laneway.

“The laneway had the potential for social engagement between the more public areas of the house, such as the kitchen, which was an unusual challenge in the gritty context of Bondi Road”, says Dark. Another example of this is the timber screen that playfully slides aside to enable glimpses into the meticulously detailed kitchen.

Client Will Dangar of landscape design practice Dangar Barin Smith and his wife Julia’s brief requested Burges to do something that hadn’t been done before, and to experiment with materials.

The intent in the materiality was to preserve and prioritise the feeling of the garden landscape. This was done through elements such as the internal brick stair resting on the concrete floor and paired with the mesh balustrade, deep timber window seats, the use of face brickwork externally and mortar washed walls internally; set against raw steel-framed glazing and galvanised steel structural columns.

Experimenting with materials as suggested by the brief, Burges’ office developed a two-skin façade system; watertight custom orb cladding, dressed with a pleated perforated aluminium sheeting. This light materiality balances the solid brick base of the extension and existing street façade; the existing street façade acting as a historical reference to the federation style form of the existing house – also a result of council’s objectives for the preservation of scale along the streetscape.

Interior design was undertaken by David Harrison and Karen McCartney of Design Daily Interiors – long term collaborators of Will Dangar. The pair worked closely with Julia Dangar, focusing on natural woven materials, cork and timber, and mixing vintage pieces with new ones.

Bismarck House shares a party wall with the recently renovated semi-detached house next door; owned by Bill Clifton; the director of Robert Plumb Build who constructed both houses. His adjacent property was simultaneously designed and built by architects Potter + Wilson, with Dangar’s landscapes spreading across the two properties.