Brisbane is a city whose concentric rings of development reveal an evolving story about the making of residential neighbourhoods. Leaving the city past small weatherboard cottages, one passes larger multi-gabled timber house, followed by orange brick and chamferboard houses with breezeblock garden walls, before arriving at a group of houses from the 1970s and early 80s. This housing stock gave the city its last flamboyant new suburban neighbourhoods before architects relocated to a patchwork of inner suburban infill.

Along the streets of these areas, we can expect to find houses with angular roofs at different pitches, sloping weatherboard cladding, textured brickwork, perhaps with a projecting blade wall or archway, oversized house numbers, and flashes of coloured glass. Their yards might feature post-top sphere lights, timber pergolas, integrated planters, and custom timber letterboxes. Venturing into the interiors reveal elements like knotty pine boards, stepping floor levels, expressed beams, brightly coloured Laminex benches with matching handles, decorative tiles, and sometimes ab excessive use of the colour brown. These houses were made with big personalities that still attract attention, coming together to create neighbourhoods whose contribution to the city’s character is something we value. Cloud Dwellers enjoy working in this context to help retain, repair and evolve the houses of this era.
Bismark Blue is a project altering a suburban home designed by Peter Green and Associates. The original structure was built in 1979 using quality materials and craftsmanship. A substantial amount of expressed timber gave a dominant characteristic of warmth, detailed scale, and linear geometries. With the existing size being sufficient, we accepted the constraint of working within the footprint. Shortcomings with the original planning arrangement were addressed. The circulation area was excessive, and blockages occurred at moments that should be about connection. This kept people separated and reduced natural light and outlook.
Our approach with existing houses is to place value on their best attributes and to amplify them, eliminate existing weaknesses, then add new elements that lead to a more balanced overall outcome. Existing elements become incorporated into new moments of richer qualities and experiences.

The owner’s brief was to renovate the ground floor of the house, which contained all the communal activities. The kitchen and surrounding internal walls were demolished to open up this area, letting the perimeter walls become an encompassing outer frame to contain the contrasting new built elements and furnishings within. An impressive original stair that was previously concealed is now on display. Cork floors were removed and the slab polished to create a blank canvas ready for a new insertion. We maintained the existing openings in the external façade to avoid interfering with the cladding or introducing mismatched opening types.
Within a large open space, the kitchen, dining and play areas are partly framed, so occupants can either identify with their own pocket of space, or feel part of a larger communal space with mixed functions. The first insertion is an L-shaped cabinetry element which captures the dining area to one side of the entry. As a counterpoint to the warm timber colour and white perimeter, here we introduced a memorable blue called Bismark. The colour was also utilised on a timber room-divider frame, which slides alongside to further define a tucked-away play space, then returns as an L-shape to capture the kitchen as an element placed against the existing perimeter.
Framed within these blue elements, additional materials act as small-scale insertions that sit in contrast with the neutral perimeter walls. The kitchen utilises light blue glazed tiles, terrazzo benchtops, and two-tone green laminate cabinetry. The use of Tasmanian Oak handles and display shelving in the room-divider frame creates a detail scale link to the original timberwork. Along with the new dark trims to the existing walls and the polished concrete floor, new and old materials are been brought into dramatic juxtaposition.
On the opposite side of the entry, an existing living space was upgraded. Large stacking sliding doors were added so the space can either be connected or isolated. These were painted as per the perimeter so they appear like a moving wall. The new room-divider screen adjacent was matched to the living room wall alignment, so the dining and living could link as a continuous space, introducing longer glimpses and an expansive feeling within the same footprint.

Additional smaller alterations make strategic improvements to the house. Part of an oversized garage was reclaimed to create a kitchen service area to house the pantry and appliances. Custom coloured pendants were carried beyond the main renovation area, extending the new colour language through to original parts of the house. A laundry and powder room were added in the same palette as the kitchen, and an external stair was added to connect the communal level of the house with an elevated rear yard.
Bismark Blue offers a demonstration of how thoughtful design and craftsmanship can be used to successfully adapt houses of this era and typology, helping to extending their lifespan and enhance the daily life of the residents. Renovations of this type can be selective and strategic, achieving dramatic outcomes that balance old and new. The project is an example of how engaging with the suburban context creates opportunities to make design excellence accessible to more of the housing market, enhancing the character and amenity of our cities.

Level G Stage 1 Plan


Axonometric View
Details


Project: Bismark Blue
Architect: Cloud Dwellers
Project Team: Jason Haigh, Cherissa McCaughey
Original designer: Peter Green and Associates, 1979
Builder: D.Pearce Constructions
Cabinetmaker: Chase Wilson
Structural Engineer: Kakia Consulting
Photographer: Cathy Schusler
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Stage 1 Design commencement: November 2019
Construction commencement: August 2020
Construction completion: December 2020
Internal Area: 110sqm
Stage 2 Design commencement: June 2023




Materials


Floor: Honed concrete with penetrative sealer
Linings: Plasterboard, fibre cement, formply by Wisa
Paint: Resene, Bismark colour from the 1976 British Standard BS5252 range
Lighting: About Space custom colour pendants, Bright Green, Havit, Nordlux
Door Hardware: Handle House, Lane, Cowdroy sliding hardware
Tiles: Nagoya Mosaic Tile Co from Academy Tiles
Kitchen benchtops: Tieneto Italia Terrazzo
Cabinetry fronts: Laminex
Cabinetry handles: Oak handles by Kethy
Shelving: Tasmanian Oak
Appliances: Siemens
Rangehood : Belling
Sinks: Abey
Basin: Caroma
Plumbing fixtures: Oliveri, Caroma