This extension to a family house with marble brise-soleils on the rear façade in New South Wales, Australia, is by Australian practice Carter Williamson Architects.

The house is a new addition to an existing timber cottage, which could not be removed from the site.

The original cottage sits in front of the new structure and is connected to it by a little covered courtyard area.

At the back of the house a concrete framework provides shading from the east and west, with horizontal marble slabs slotted in between.

On the ground floor, a large tri-fold glazed door extends the open plan living space out to the garden.

A bedroom, study, library and bathroom are located on the first floor.

Photographs are by Brett Boardman.

See all our stories on residential architecture »

The following information is from the architects:

The brief was to bring light into our clients’ home and their lives.

Their old home was Victorian, dark and periodically tight and depressing. It was little changed when we got it.

The original house on the site is an 1860s timber cottage sourced, sawn and constructed from local timber.

A L+EC ruling had virtually made it a heritage item, which came with court-defined planning concessions.

The design is for a new building to sit sympathetically behind and recessive from the original cottage.

The new building touches the old through a light, small connection that locates a gothic-like courtyard and the front door.

The square ground floor houses the kitchen, living and dining rooms.

Large voids puncture the upper level plan, organising the space between bedroom, study and library.

The voids spatially organise the ground plan defining the kitchen, dining and circulation.

The rear facade is a composition of light and shade.

Strong off-form concrete blades attenuate east and west light, while marble horizontal louvres control northern light.

The formal rhythm of the vertical blades are offset by the playfulness of the horizontal louvres.

A roof garden hides the garage and defines an amphitheatre to the living room.

Team Architect: Shaun Carter

Designers: Patrick Fitzgerald, Mattia Fiumani

See also:

.

Long Island House by Kanner Architects	Casa Doble by María Langarita & Víctor Navarro	House with Concrete Louvers by StudioGreenBlue