Just in time for Christmas, check out our new range of beautiful timber homewares, sourced exclusively from our architectural project, House 2022.
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​Each board is also branded on it's underside with our logo as well as the postcode of the origin home, in this case Queens Park or "2022"
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For this range, we were interested in providing 2 different thicknesses, 15mm and 30mm, for those wanting a heftier chopping or presentation surface.  And we have delivered!

If you know Zander personally or live in Sydney and would like to save on postage by picking up from our office, please get in touch and we can make an arrangement!

House of Origin has a Houzz profile, which you can review here.  Everyday we are lucky enough to have our projects included in peoples "ideabooks" and occasionally specific parts of our projects are hand-picked for editorial articles on "good examples" of certain architectural features.  As these are mostly written by the American office of Houzz, it is quite an honour to identified as providing something unique that is also applicable in the US.

This time it's the wonderful, small internal courtyard at House 2022 in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

This project sits on a corner, with a rear lane, so the courtyard is bound to the North and East by the site boundary walls, while the kitchen runs along the southern boundary and opens out into the space, as shown in the plans below.  

The timber privacy screen is made from timber repurposed from the construction process and tops the courtyard walls, continuing along the side passage.  It serves to soften the wall while also creating lovely shadows at night when car headlights pass through.  A very successful and elegant solution.

Read the complete list of 20 deck design ideas here.

We recently utilised a product, MAXI-Ply for some of our client's new joinery and they were nice enough to write some kind words about our work. 

"A collaboration of architectural and joinery talents is showcased in the excellent renovation and refurbishment project...House of Origin knew the clients sought something with a little more flair than standard white finishes so the 24mm White MAXI Film was purposefully integrated into the designs to allow the exposed Birch edges to effectively highlight the creative sophisticated joinery installations."

As we near the completion of this project, we thought it would be a good time to go back and review the construction process.

We like to do this not only because it is fascinating to see watch each step unfold, but also because it is a fantastic exercise for our clients (existing and potential) to see what it takes for evan a small project to come together.  Ultimately the process is one of trust, ongoing design and great workmanship.

​Watch it all take place below. 

Essentially the project consisted of stripping out an inner-city mezzanine apartment.  

​We were fortunate to have a design-conscious client who wanted to express some of the structural elements, while making the space still feel "homely".  We worked with a black/timber/white palette, which will be accented by expressed, red-painted fire sprinklers and the client's own art-works.

The main works consisted of:

1. Removing space-hungry stair + replacing with spiral stair
2. Relocation of large A/C unit to open area below mezzanine
3. Removal + reinstatement of kitchen and mezzanine support
4. Complete stripping of bathroom + expansion into previous "robe" area
5. Removal of aluminium doors - Replaced with timber sliders
6. Removal of flooring throughout - Replace with timber boards + tiles in Winter Garden
7. New custom-designed joinery throughout - Kitchen, Laundry, Robe, Linen, Vanity, Medicine Cabinet and TV unit.
8. Replace all lighting

It might appear that a small home = a small project = no on-site design decisions.  
This is almost never the case and certainly wasn't true in this circumstance.  

We were delighted to work with the experienced hands at both iRenov8 and Deston Interiors, who repeatedly stepped up to respond to site conditions, working with us and the client to come to a cost-effective and design-based outcome.

Once we started demolishing the kitchen, it was determined that the plasterboard ceiling could be removed as easily as patching and repairing it.  The client was delighted with the extra head-height and happy to express the textured grey of the original slab.

The kitchen + Laundry joinery were a constant work in progress as items such as the huge A/C unit were relocated and the budget massaged to accommodate finishes etc.

All that remains to be completed is the installation of the doors and a few small tidying-up tasks.

It has been a delight to work with our lovely client and the dedicated construction and joinery contractors.

Once these are complete, we'll be sure to upload the completed project photographs, so watch this space!

We are pretty excited to be almost ready to share our new repurposed homeware products with you.  So excited, we thought we show off some "under construction" shots from the past few weeks.

Our new range of cutting boards and serving platters feature a brass ring to assist in handling the boards, which is extremely comfortable and looks stunning.

​We have sourced all of our timber from one of our project, House 2022, so these boards really have a single house of origin.

This timber was also used to make a privacy screen and outdoor bbq bench for this project, so we managed to do a lot with the materials salvaged from the old flooring structure. 

This new range of boards will be available for sale in a few weeks, so watch this space!

We are extremely excited to finally be able to announce that demolition works have commenced on our Surry Hills interior project.  The approvals process for this fantastic mezzanine have taken longer than anyone expected, so we are delighted that the builders went in yesterday, with hammers swinging.

Despite the apartment being quite small, we are touching almost every part of it's interior space, including the bathroom, which will mean the build is estimated to be 6-8 weeks. 

The key improvements (shown here in our artist's impressions) include the opening up of the kitchen area, achieved through the replacement of the long stair with a slim spiral one.  This in turn creates more floor space to the mezzanine sleeping area, allowing for the inclusion of a functional robe.  

The existing bathroom is also significantly expanded to include storage and enough room to allow you to actually throw a towel around your shoulders.

We can't wait to see the finished product which will improve the living amenities of this inner-city apartment!

Last year, Zander assisted in shaping the unsuspecting minds of future architects, by tutoring the UTS Masters course Architectural Practice - Finance + Project Management.  And in 2016, he has been asked to return as part of the team of experienced and lovely tutors.

The course content is a real delight to tutor, despite sounding rather dry on paper.  Architecture is a complicated business and it is much more than the sum of its parts.  It involves the co-ordination of many people, documents, times, expectation, budgets and lets not forget, DESIGN!

For this reason, it is truely exciting to be a part of the discussion with these students, when it begins to dawn on them what it really takes to deliver a spectacular final product.  

Great ideas, certainly.  Great clients, even better!  But an ability to clearly communicate your ideas to a variety of stakeholders and authorities is a skill that takes time to learn and learn they must, lest their spectacular talents remain forever unbuilt!

Here is some of the nice things they were kind enough to say about me last year:

"He always brought his own opinions about the lecture and gave us useful little personal experience stories to give advice some depth. He was efficient and thorough with going through the tutorial sheets​.  He was really supportive, knew what he was talking about and if he didn't, would openly say so and suggest we consult the course co-ordinator. I really appreciated his casualness in class and efforts to make sure we all participated​."

"(Zander is) Funny in his way of explaining stuff, it is clear and fun; making the tutorial feels friendlier and more fun to be attended, rather than just a usual a bit boring or intimidating tutorial."

Wish me luck with the next batch of students!

If you have ever wondered what inspired Zander to be an architect, you need look no further than the inspirational Paul Pholeros, a man who reinvigorated my appreciation for the Australian architectural vernacular.

I was incredibly fortunate to be introduced to Paul through a family friend.  And by introduced, I mean, I met the house he had designed for her.  The spaces he created were formative in my consideration of architecture as a career, such were their sense of clarity and purpose.  I later met him for a job interview, only to be told it wouldn't be fair on me to work for him, because he spent so much of his time out-of-office, in the remote outback. 

You can watch his incredible TED talk about the big impact of small changes here.

Paul worked tirelessly in Australian aboriginal communities, as well as in earthquake torn Nepal, with his office HealthHabitat, seeking only to improve the quality of life for those in need, without the ego often attached to such endeavours.  A unique inspiration indeed in our age.

As a man not needing to self-promote, he never permitted his residential work to be published, allowing new clients to come to him via word of mouth and always with an open mind, free of preconceptions about his "style".  

This attitude of allowing the client's brief to be filtered through the architects design sensibilities has been a guiding principle for this practice.

Many people have said it better than me, so please feel free to read on and know that I was and will continue to be inspired by this man, even in his absence.

Elizabeth Farrelly, Sydney Morning Herald
Victoria Laurie, The Monthly

Houzz is a fantastic platform for getting real design ideas from local projects.  

Looking for inspiration on period timber details?  Well, Houzz have included House of Origin's House 2067 in an article about timber fretwork, which is quite an honour as every timber item shown below was lovingly removed, restored and replaced, so as to maintain the home's original character, albeit in a vastly improved configuration.

​The timber grille featured on Houzz was originally over the hall 90° perpendicular to it's present location.  We delicately removed the timber at the beginning of the project, stored it on site, sanded it back and repositioned it so as to align with it's twin, which hangs over the entry hall.  

Not only were we able to retain the timber, character and history of the home, but we were able to use this piece to enhance the hall/dining area in a new way that perfectly married in with the other restored timbers in the entry hall.

We are really pleased to be featured in this article, so jump over and have a read here.