This project is an interior alteration to an old sawmill in Garnet Road, Westmere. The building sits on foundations well above the ground as required for the sawmill. The original building was divided into two large spaces, a front and a rear part. It has had several uses since it was a sawmill, both as a factory and residential units. Structural interior bracing was required to both parts of the building. The conceptual framework for the project was to capture the rawness and simplicity of the sawmill and to maintain it’s original raised shed-like gable structure.

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The rear part has living, dining and kitchen with a side extension for a bathroom and bedroom. The front part has been reconfigured as a main bedroom and sitting area with an ensuite and dressing room. An existing study/TV room has been maintained in this section. The entry ‘hall’ is part of the front section and has four long steps climbing to a landing from the driveway to enter the house through double front doors.

The rawness has been expressed through exposing the steel portal frames (gabled) and RHS beams required for the structural bracing. Exposing the steel means that the gable lines are visible throughout the interior. The joinery is timber as are the floors and ceiling lining. In the front part, the study and ensuite walls line up with the centre of the gable on one side and the dressing room walls are at door height on the other side (reminiscent of the ‘changing shed’) which draws your attention to and shows off, the gabled ceiling lines.

The front exterior wall joinery again follows the gable lines. It was envisaged as a modernist composition of joinery (typically the Group houses) that also reflects the simple shed shaped structure.