Inside-Out – Fairweather House by Pohio Adams Architects

Conceived from an inside-out approach, Fairweather House sees its 1940s Federation-era origins reimagined and extended with purposeful connection to its surrounds. Pohio Adams Architects draws on the home’s rich heritage and detailing to propose a befitting response that engages the entire site.

Set amongst the lushly landscaped and equally grand residences of Sydney’s Bellevue Hills, Fairweather House brings together the old and new through a considered lens. Binding the eras required a sensitive and thoughtful approach and, through an extension of the original legacy of the home, refined and highly detailed insertions fit appropriately in place. Originally built in the 1940s, the Federation-style home needed a contemporary injection to openly connect the formal planning and create meaningful engagement with its landscape and surrounding aspect. Focusing on an inside-out methodology, Pohio Adams Architects looks to curate the interior experience as an integral element, presenting the space as a foundation for the remainder of the home to then draw principles outward and encase the extents of the site.

Each view outward needed to act as an extension of the home and complement a desired sense of escape and disconnect internally.

Built by Kinn Construction, with landscape design by Dangar Barin Smith, Fairweather House is imagined holistically. Each view outward needed to act as an extension of the home and complement a desired sense of escape and disconnect internally. Surrounding the built form with a combination of soft and hard landscaped elements, the backyard space offers an element of privacy and seclusion with its private pool anchored to the rear. The front of the home, however, utilises its stepped and sloping terrain to create a series of platforms for seating and entertaining while engaging with the views beyond.

Key to the new works is the maintenance of the charm and original character of the home. New gestures offer a matched refinement while extending the same generous proportions outward. A significant move sees the creation of a subterranean passage under the house, connecting the garage with a newly created teenagers’ space, pool wet room and wine cellar. Throughout, a conscious selection of aged and long wearing materiality connects between the old and new and ensures a consistency. The combination of oak flooring and joinery, polished plaster, as well as aged brass and bronze with terrazzo and sandstone elements ensures a robust warmth forms the platform for the coming chapters of the family home.

The combination of oak flooring and joinery, polished plaster, as well as aged brass and bronze with terrazzo and sandstone elements ensures a robust warmth forms the platform for the coming chapters of the family home.

With a careful respect for the original structure, Fairweather House emerges as a natural evolution of the home’s original intent, seeing Pohio Adams Architects dutifully extend the home’s relevance through a crafted hand.