About This Project

Stanley is a historic fishing village in far north western Tasmania surrounded by water. Geologically interesting, the town is built on the scree slopes of the core of an extinct volcano, tied to the mainland by a sand isthmus.

Our client runs a guesthouse on the front of the site, and has been living with two unconnected spaces when guests are in the home. This is not a thrilling prospect in the harsh winters they experience. As a consequence, he has missed out on letting opportunities as he has been taking up residence in the main house.

A better solution for permanent living was required to enable the guesthouse to be ready to produce an income at a moment’s notice.

A renovation project was part of the brief bringing together three separate existing structures:

– a Hut, with bathroom;
– a windmill folly, with kitchen & viewing loft;
– a rough timber toolshed.

The building was to include a small living area, an additional toilet and an inglenook-a cosy hole for daydreaming and the odd guest.

Budget was, of course, almost non-existent.

Originally the building was to be more inclusive of recycled materials but the adoption of Victorian Bushfire codes after recent fires in Hobart, which were gazetted during the DA process, meant we had to change a number of our material choices.

It has been filmed by Fremantle Media for broadcast on Foxtel’s Lifestyle channels Series 7 of Grand Designs Australia.

Our client loves his new home and often remarks that we could only achieve such a great result as we were lacking in adult supervision.

It is a home of contrast and whimsy.