Extending a Legacy – SRG House by Studio Johnston

Delicately meandering down its steep terrain in Sydney, SRG House combines a unique history and occupation, while key insertions and additions allow for an immersive connection to the surrounding landscape. Home to Studio Johnston Co-Founder and Director Conrad Johnston, a key collaboration with Abodo ensures the extension of an important legacy.

Originally conceived and built in 1972, SRG House is named after modernist Melbourne architect Sir Roy Grounds. The house was believed to have been his Sydney pied-a-terre and was originally designed by Stuart Whitelaw as one of a pair of semi-detached homes. Forming a key part of the architectural vernacular of the area and a reflection of the time of its construction, Conrad was drawn to its unique qualities and history. “The home has a very distinctive language, and to me it has a very strong geometry that is really successful in some ways and not successful in others,” he says. The appeal to the heritage-listed home was perhaps in its unidentifiable style – and its fusion of ideas. He adds, “in some ways it very much reflects the typical Sydney School, but then has a brutalist technology in its construction.”

Emphasising its extensive use of timber as a core structural and expressed element, the close collaboration between Studio Johnston and Abodo ensured the original intent of the home was maintained throughout the new works.

The love affair with the building began with Conrad living in the space unaltered to best understand the light, landscape and aspects. Sometime later, the renovation process began. Built by SQ Project, together with structural engineering by SDA Structures and landscape by Dangar Barin Smith, the renovation was all-encompassing and needed a considered and enduring approach. With an emphasis on maintaining the building’s most important qualities, Conrad called on Abodo to supply timber that would ensure the home’s materiality would endure while updating it for the future. He also looked to the “beautiful connection to the landscape, beautiful light, beautiful views, which we wanted to emphasise.”

Conrad explains that the original home “provided a real opportunity to do something interesting, but the approach would need to be quite radical and strong because the site and existing elements were quite unwieldy.” On its steep allotment, the home opens out toward the Paramatta River towards Iron Cove to the south and to Birkenhead Point to the west. Emphasising these views and maintaining the large-spanning glazed openings was key, while navigating the 45-degree slope of the site remained the most prominent challenge. Though the original house was only 3.4m wide, “it is, however, almost 500 square metres, which gave us the opportunity to extend the house and provide a two-bedroom apartment as an adjunct to the main house,” Conrad explains. “It’s probably the most difficult project I’ve done because you were trying to work with the geometry but turn it on its head in some ways because it’s got this 45-degree grid and was so narrow.”

We were looking to match the original cedar, but to avoid the downfalls. We started to use Abodo just for the exterior cladding, and we then used it internally and although it was somewhat experimental, it is now the predominant material throughout the house.”

As a re-engineering exercise, Studio Johnston has added additional valuable floor area, while creating intentional connections to both the area and the landscape. It is in the maintaining of the original integrity that strengthens the resolve. Describing the inherited conditions, Conrad says “the plan was very rigid and very difficult, but it had a really nice sense to it in terms of the light and the materiality and a connection to the modernist era through a very strong formal expression and floor-to-ceiling glass windows, which we wanted to maintain.” Emphasising its extensive use of timber as a core structural and expressed element, the close collaboration between Studio Johnston and Abodo ensured the original intent of the home was maintained throughout the new works.

In respecting the architectural lineage of its past, ensuring the added elements and their materials had exceptional stability, reduced maintenance and could be installed efficiently was important. Working with long-term collaborator Abodo, Conrad was seeking a sustainable timber selection that was plantation sourced, FSC® certified and aligned with the existing aesthetic stylings of the original home. Replacing the original cedar features that had rotted over time, the Abodo alternative combines the qualities of cedar with unique benefits. “We were looking to match the original cedar, but to avoid the downfalls,” Conrad says. “We started to use Abodo just for the exterior cladding, and we then used it internally. Although it was somewhat experimental, it is now the predominant material throughout the house, and the large range of profiles and the fact that it doesn’t leach or need much maintenance ensure the home’s essence can continue.”

Embracing the home’s original narrative through materiality in collaboration with Abodo, Studio Johnston captures the essence of its past while updating the home for contemporary living. Extending its legacy through focusing on and collaborating with impassioned craftspeople, makers and suppliers, SRG House becomes further connected to its context, both physical and historical.