Combining Charm and Character – Bulimba Hill House by Hive Architecture

The owners of Bulimba Hill House used their relocation from Sydney to modernise and extend an existing Queenslander home, embracing the site’s natural location. Hive Architecture opens up the established structure to capitalise on an enviable elevation, fusing personal character with heritage charm.

 While the traditional Queenslander home sits lofted high above the ground, Bulimba Hill House sits even higher, navigating a steeply sloping site. The naturally elevated height of the home and its positioning on its terrain affords uninterrupted views outward, creating and reinforcing an important connection to place. In a relocation from Sydney, the owners chose to purchase and renovate the existing heritage structure, restoring it and adding volume to allow for an openly connected family home. Built in 1924 by politician Bob Gardner, preserving the building’s history was key. Hive Architecture built upon features of the original home through considered insertions, optimising its incredible 270-degree views.

Although a sense of clarity was needed in bringing the old and new together, the brief was less about focussing on the formal and more about creating a home that allowed and encouraged living to occur.

The close collaboration between T+B Builders and Dan Young Landscape ensured Bulimba Hill House embraces its surrounding landscape and its natural elevation. Although a sense of clarity was needed in bringing the old and new together, the brief was less about focussing on the formal and more about creating a home that allowed and encouraged living to occur. While the upper-level houses sleeping spaces, the ground level opens to the outdoors, encouraging a flow of movement. The outdoor landscape becomes an important extension of the home and an additional room of sorts, responding to the climate and a passive engagement with the elements.

As a family home, a palette of low maintenance and robust finishes encases the interior while connecting to the original timber clad features of the Queenslander style. Warmth and texture are then expressed through timber and colour, with green highlighted to connect to the surrounding natural landscape. The palette was also inspired by the owner’s own art collection and the interesting tonality it afforded. The wall’s curved edges both buffer joinery and furniture, sitting as family friendly insertions throughout. There was a deliberate steering away from the perfectly resolved, instead wanting to create spaces that felt engaging and embracing. Bringing light deep into the lower level, a connecting bridge aids in circulation while also puncturing the floor plate and allowing the natural into the centre of the home.

Warmth and texture are then expressed through timber and colour, with green highlighted to connect to the surrounding natural landscape.

Bulimba Hill House combines and celebrates the existing character of its heritage bones. Hive Architecture extends the home’s relevance by infusing the unique charm of its current owners.