The Garden Room

The Garden Room
© Brett Boardman
The Garden Room
© Brett Boardman

THE GARDEN ROOM

Welsh+Major

ARCHITECTS
Welsh+Major

LOCATION
Sydney, Australia

PROJECT YEAR
2013

PHOTOGRAPHS
Brett Boardman

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS
Birzulis Associates

BUILDER
Davden Enterprises

PROJECT TEAM
Chris Major, David Welsh, Steven Sheridan

GARDEN DESIGNER
Peter Fudge Design

ARBORIST
Robert Hannan

HYDRAULIC ENGINEERS
Henry & Hymas

The Garden Project transforms the site of a late Victorian home in inner-city Sydney into a garden oasis.

Taking a stand-alone underused garden, Welsh+Major have designed a flexible series of indoor and outdoor spaces, integrating the house with its surroundings.

The Garden Room
© Brett Boardman
The Garden Room
© Brett Boardman
The Garden Room
© Brett Boardman

It bookends a lush central garden space with the garden flowing around and through the structure. It is a quiet room, entertaining space or extra accommodation.

The project is conceived with the garden at its centre. The flexible “garden room” is designed to blur the boundaries between garden and architecture.

The built forms sit low within the site, wrapping around existing trees and folding down to the boundary. A modulated concrete roofline lifts the gaze to district views beyond.

The Garden Room
© Brett Boardman
The Garden Room
© Brett Boardman

The roof folds and floats, playing with ideas of enclosure and lightness; solidity and transparency.

Internal spaces are permeable, defined by floor and ceiling planes rather than walls. Robust materials used in the new work are designed to take on the patina of the garden itself in time.

The Garden Room
© Brett Boardman
The Garden Room
© Brett Boardman
The Garden Room
© Brett Boardman

The garden is loosely structured and designed to occupy, rather than edge, the yard. Small outdoor areas around the house and the garden room are reclaimed as both living spaces and green backdrops.

The garden connects the spaces and forms around and within it - integrating the site and linking the house to its surroundings.


The Garden Room
Site Plan
The Garden Room
Floor Plan


The Garden Room
South Elevation
The Garden Room
North Elevation