An Architect’s Own Home – Uxbridge House by Tim Stewart Architects

Nestled within a leafy suburb of Brisbane, Uxbridge House by Tim Stewart Architects is the quintessential family home. The final structure was built up from a very small house. Typically, a Queenslander home is a weatherboard house with battens underneath – Uxbridge House flips this tradition. Still maintaining a connection to the local community, the house now creatively has battens on the upper level to protect the home from the sun and provide extra privacy, whilst the lower level, still weatherboard, now sits on darker base below.

As the family grew, so did their home. Tim Stewart accepted the challenge of designing his own house, balancing the aspirations of the client and the responsibilities of the architect. As an architect’s own home, Uxbridge House reflects the personality of Tim and his family, acting as a functional, liveable space. With the building surrounded by trees, light catches the space in different ways. Throughout different times of day and season, light moves around to create new experiences throughout the day, breathing life into the home.

Tim worked with Tongue n Groove, who provided Hekke board – a timber with a detailed weathered effect – to bring warmth into the home. The character, colour and consistency of the timber fits in with the textual and colour palette of the house. As the wax finish does not show marks or footprints, the board is a perfect fit for the bustle of an architect’s own home designed for family life.

The property, which sits along a bike path that travels up and out through many of Brisbane’s northern suburbs, is defined by its edges – the greenbelt slicing through the inner suburb, Grange. The public edges of the park and bike path influenced the layout of the home – the living, dining and kitchen area is a gathering space that has the opportunity to interact with neighbours and the community. As a completed entity, Uxbridge House gives beyond the family and out to the surrounding neighbourhood.