The new home is perched on top of a massive boulder outcrop with sweeping south-facing views back into Darlington. Northern winter light is welcomed in thru clerestory windows along the extents of the major pavilions. The idea is to mop up that sunshine on some polished concrete floors and hold the heat in with double glazing & high levels of insulation. I hope the client likes it......fingers crossed

Set in a private bushland setting this is a dream property. The prior landowners had tried to build there dream here but they only got as far as building a granny flat and the slab and foundations of the home, which is unlucky. The new owners now plan on fulfilling their dream for the site using within the framework that has already been established, including reusing the old slab. But the home will be very different, with inspiration from more sustainably focused, modern architectural influences. It includes good shade and a long east-west axis to gain maximum benefit from the warming sunlight in winter, a separate pool house, feature stone walls that connect with the landscaping and all the internal spaces the client desired.

For more details on this project in the concept design phase, you'll have to revisit our website soon.

This passive solar home is located on a steep sloping bushland site along a creek line. The home was designed to minimise disturbance to site whilst balancing the need to create a private family home with separate studio, that highlights the valley views and rocky creek. Photo from The Agency

What an awesome property and great clients to work with. The property was quite steeply sloping, facing to the North, this allowed the home to be nestled in the trees whilst still being connected and grounded on the South. The client worked with Simon Rodrigues from Rodrigues Bodycoat Architects to develop a high-level concept plan. This foundation design formed the backbone of the overall home.

Plot Design was engaged to take it from this concept to fruition. During these stages, the design was adjusted to better suit the construction budget, on-site levels and evolved to suit the client's aspirations. The 3D software made it easier to adjust and tweak the home to get the right look and feel.

Ultimately I think a lot of credit goes to the owner in this project, for staying true to their design aspirations, putting together a strong project team and for engaging early on in the project with their builder. I think this project will be fantastic when constructed and will be a testament to the client's vision.

This lovely Extension was built by Nebular Constructions and was designed to increase the living and master bedroom areas. For the living areas, the client wanted a more open plan feel, polished concrete floors, to better frame up views to the surrounding bush and better integrate with existing outdoor entertaining areas like the pool. We did just this and it looks amazing, compliments to the client's vision and Nebular Constructions.

This sweet little extension was stuck in a tight spot. With a beautiful big Jacaranda tree dominating the backyard and not much room between it and the fence, we had to make it work around these factors. The new extension includes a new living room, alfresco, laundry, bathroom, garden shed & studio bedroom. An arborist will be engaged to ensure we protect the tree and we have raised the floor level of the building to ensure we minimise disturbance to it's stabilising roots. The new works are a bit more modern than the original old Bassendean cottage but given it sits around the back and has a nod to the old style I think it works quite well as a whole.

Another tidy little home in the Perth Hills, that has solar passive design as it's core. This will claim a high energy rating and ticks the boxes being efficient in size & performance. More details to come, have a look at the sun study image to see how it performs all year round.....Very excited about this one

This New Home has been a long time coming, the family have been making do in a comfortable approved Granny Flat, but it's now time to fully realise their dream home. The home is primarily a conventional cavity brick, slab on ground home and has perfect orientation & slope for a Passive Solar home design. The North orientation which luckily faces the views towards the valley, includes lots of glazing, and most of the living & bedroom spaces have access to this vista. The home has a vaulted raking ceiling with open plan living space that extends right out to the connected outdoor living spaces on both sides of the home. This is going to look terrific when finished.

The site was a beautiful sloping hills site with views towards the city. The family had clear ideas of the elements & components they wanted but needed help in reconciling all their ideas & including this within their home. The home is very modern & laid out in a modular fashion using raw finished materials.

This was a huge project. The main residence consisted of 2 gable roof pavilions with a glazed breezeway connection between them. The design is split over multiple levels and we worked hard to ensure there was a good connection between the indoor & outdoor spaces throughout the site.

The lower pavilion includes a classic open plan living arrangement with a long raking ceiling with exposed composite metal & steel trusses. The family wanted the living & dining room to be somewhat shared so a large feature bench/table sits in the middle of this space, with the kitchen having a wrap behind scullery/pantry to hide all the mess away.

The second higher pavilion is accessed via a linking breezeway with full glass to either side looking into the gardens. The first floor of this pavilion host all the kid's bedrooms, plus the laundry and bathroom. Up the feature steel/timber staircase is the parent's retreat & the master bedroom suite.

At the rear of the site, there is a pool house/studio/guest bed /workshop with its own separate bathroom. An open vine-covered pergola has pride of place at the front of this and enjoys views back to the main residence over the lap pool and gardens.

This older home has new owner's and they need this old one to fit their needs. The new design had to work with the existing heritage style street appeal and meld old tacked on extensions with the existing homestead's look and feel. The new design which is hidden at the rear is all contemporary with new raking open plan living areas & outdoor living areas that connect thru to the new pool out the back and the existing courtyard & flame tree. There was a fair bit of shuffling of spaces internally as well to get the old, tacked on & new extension to all work together neatly. In the end it all works & the outcome for the client is a family forever home.

A modern pavilion style located opposite the Exmouth Gulf coastline. Currently, this home is the Concept Design stage, as we await the clients to finish another building project we completed with them.

This home has to tackle some harsh conditions, sun, remoteness, hot weather and strong wind conditions. We have had to work to deal responsibly with these impacts through a variety of means. To cope with this we have minimised all glazing to the West whilst trying to frame up the views of the distant Cape Range views. To the West we needed big glass to take in the fantastic Exmouth Gulf views that are a stone throw from the deck, we included deep shading to this elevation and included fold down timber awnings to screen all large bedroom windows in high wind/cyclonic weather and to provide privacy when needed.

As you enter the home you look through a sheltered garden to the coastline beyond. The living areas are open plan, clean and modern. Construction is hoped to be partially fabricated in Perth from feature wood plank concrete tilt-up walls and steel framing, with these shipped to site to expedite construction times and minimise regional construction costs.

I have known Laura a building designer in Denmark for years and was absolutely delighted to be asked to complete the documentation for their new home. It is modest in footprint but includes 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms & a beautiful open living area with raking timber ceiling. This project is located only 5 mins from Williams Bay / Greens Pool, on Mt Shadforth. The site has a BAL-29 bushfire rating and we have utilised bushfire resistant Spotted Gum feature cladding which looks terrific. Other notable materials include polished concrete floors, recycled red brick feature walls, high insulation levels & double glazing. This will be a comfortable home year-round, keeping the warmth in and cold South-Western weather out. It will also well orientated to allow in ample light in Winter and rest in full shade in Summer.

In Aaron's work as a draftsman and sustainability consultant for JBA, he was involved in the early stages of the building design process, through to detailed documentation of the landscaping award winning Josh's House project. This project includes two homes that are thermally comfortable year round, without the need for air conditioning or additional heating. They generate more electricity than they use, and will harvest and recycle water. In addition to private garden areas, a common productive garden supplies both houses with fresh food.

Visit www.joshshouse.com.au for more detail

This home is located on the iconic Mary St in Highgate, the one with all those beautiful avenue of shady Moreton Bay fig trees on both sides, running between Beaufort St & Hyde Park. Great location but it's a pretty run down cottage in need of a revamp that reflects the value of the property and the needs of a new family. The original cottage will remain, but the old addons will go to make room for a new simple open plan living area & alfresco. A new studio will be added at the back to take overflow visitors & family when needed. The block is very small but there is still outdoor room to move, even with the addition of a pool in the future. Also we improved the street frontage by adding a bullnosed veranda and upgraded fencing.

These clients have a beautiful property and old home hidden far back from the street amongst the trees but with sweeping view to the West and the city. The brief was for a modern extension that reflects the same form and lines as the existing Californian Bungalow home. The new extension updates a 1970's double storey extension that didn't quite fit with the original style. Whilst still in the concept design phase the new double storey extension has adapted to take on board the clients design style and now has a more monumental feel with clear views towards the garden and city. Shading options to protect the home from the western sun are still being adapted but through sun shading analysis and the use of soft landscaping deciduous vines we can shade the building until 3pm which means we have an hour before the sun drops behind the tree lines and disappears into the sunset.

This cute well built colonial style 70's family home, sits down and back from the street and is surrounded by well-landscaped gardens with that typical Darlington stone retaining walls. The family has grown and now the home needs to get back up with the times. The concept myself and the client are working on includes a larger kitchen/living/dining/alfresco extension to the North that will free up some space in the existing footprint for more bedrooms and a rumpus room. We are also adding a small extension to the South to add an upgraded Laundry and another bedroom.

The new pavilion is connected to the existing building via a new breezeway entry that looks towards the rear gardens and winter creek. The new pavilion features a raking ceiling that spans the length of the dining and living areas, allowing the potential for extended dining table arrangements and creating symmetry. The Kitchen has views of the street and across the dining to the pool and alfresco, it also wraps behind the computer nook to a semi-private butlers kitchen/pantry. The fire is located to be visible from all spaces and has room for flexible seating so you can warm your toes.

We will salvage the existing carport and recommissioned in its new location with undercover access to the new pavilions via the mudroom, which allows for an easy drop and pick-up for school bags, shopping and all else needed when your ducking in and out of the house. The exterior is generally kept true to the original homes feel, but with the addition of feature stonework to earth the home and reflect the surrounding stone landscaping walls.

The existing internals of the home is also being modified to create a Master Bedroom Suite, more bedrooms, rearranged wet areas and extra storage.

This old cottage had been renovated so many times that it was starting to lose it’s charm and was certainly falling into disrepair. The new owner already has a beautiful home but was looking to downsize. The plan is to strip off all the old adhoc extensions and keep the original cottage walls, then bring a refreshed clean layout to the home whilst still trying to highlight the cottages original charms.

This new music room sits at the top of the primary school ground's and is a key project for the school as they grow. The building design was developed collaboratively with the School Building & Maintenance Committee members. The building had to meet tight budgetary requirements and facilitate the school's needs for the music room and a multipurpose performance space. The building includes 2 private tuition rooms, a large multi-purpose music room and an extended outdoor assembly/performance space.

After completing the documenttaion for the Music Building for the school. I was invited to assist with the design & drafting of their new nature inpired adventure playground. This project was engaging & fun to work. I loved brininging the vision of the school to life. It includes a tangled web of logs, a quiet seating area, big old salvaged balancing ropes & a 4 storey fort complet with slide and firemans pole. The kids will love it.

The existing home was getting small, so we designed a new North facing passive solar extension with extended main living areas, office, observation deck, atrium and a new master bedroom suite.

This extension will provide ample room for this family to grow. The home was too small but the area was great. We have taken this house well and truly to the next level, converting it to a spacious, inviting and comfortable space. We opened up the living areas, brought in natural light from the North through clerestorey windows. Added new open vine covered pergola and also a clear waterproof pergola to the front garden sitting area. A new carport was squeezed in on the West. Added on a huge alfresco, that will eventually look over a pool in the future I am told. But the main extension was the new master bed suite and laundry/mud room. A great client and a fantastic home.

Having worked with this client before we were familiar with the site and engaged to design a new studio that could also be used as an ancillary accommodation or granny flat. After resolving an initial concept at ground level we revised the design, raising the studio above the ground to shield the client's backyard from overlooking by a new development to the South. This revised layout provided a better outcome with North facing windows overlooking the backyard, a private courtyard and a shaded undercroft with bike store below.

The existing home had a good quality main residence with an old attached cottage to the side that needed refreshing. The old cottage will be removed in this design & a new modern extension with clean lines will be constructed in it's place. The new arrangement includes space for 3 new bedrooms, music / study and new bathroom. The owners wanted a change from the old fibro and metal roof construction used on the main residence so the new extension is modern and with more refined detailing.

This home had a lot of constraints. We had an existing home that needs to be converted into an granny flat, a steeply sloping site, a big oak tree that had to stay, setback issues due to it's need to tie in with the existing landscaping and granny flat and of coarse it had to reflect the lifestyle, budget and style of the client. The 3 bed 2 bath home features a central living area and a wing for each the parents and children. Decks face off towards the views and surround the oak tree. The master bedroom suite has also secured views to the oak from the bedroom, private outdoor sitting area and the Ensuite. The home has level areas to the North with a deciduous vine covered pergola that will be a focus for interacting with the garden. This project is still in the finals stages of working drawings.

I was lucky enough to work with the Shire of Cranbrook and Main Roads Great Southern Region to design a new Driver Reviver / Toilet Amenities building West of the Town of Cranbrook. The Driver Reviver Program is a national program operated by volunteers to encourage travellers and truck drivers to stop rest and enjoy a coffee break, and hence lower fatigue related deaths. The Driver Reviver is a place to stop, enjoy a tea, cake, biscuit or coffee and will be open during peak travel days to provide free refreshments.

The location of the building is surrounded by a big parking area off the highway that will allow for large trucks and travellers with caravans to stop and use the facilities or even rest overnight. The Toilet Amenities will be open 24/7, and includes highly durable low maintenance fixtures and finishes and include Ambulant access to both Male & Female, baby change facilities and a universally accessible cubicle. Each Male / Female has a roomy and accessible warm shower cubicle that may suit some people with higher access needs. Given the remote nature of the facility and it needs to be relatively autonomous, consideration as to appropriate security and servicing of the facilities for water storage/ treatment & renewable energy needs was required.

This is a very nice home on a larger site in Parkerville with a nice open living area with raking ceilings. It includes a large theatre, feature fireplace & a large balcony facing the views to the South.

This project grew from necessity, the existing home suited the family well, but now there are the needs of some independent extended family members looking to share the property. To accommodate this we extended to East of the existing home to add on a granny flat. We kept the home and the granny flat at one level so accessibility was maximised when moving between the 2 spaces. The underside of the granny flat was utilised for a triple carport and an open carbay under the new outdoor entertaining area. We also added a new outdoor entertaining area to the North to make better use of the views, below this is a workshop. The site had a higher than desirable Bushfire Attack Level (BAL), but working with the BAL assessor, neighbours, builder and the Shire of Mundaring this was reduced to a more moderate level.

This home is big and fancier then some of the other homes we have worked on in the past. The owner had already done some homework and knew they wanted a French Provincial style & feel to the home and had also arranged a very simple but workable floor plan. Working with the client we further resolved the design and did full detailed documentation for construction.

Located in the rural community of Dandaragan North of Perth on a large farm property. This young family wanted a bit more space to grow as they have their first baby on the way. The new extension includes a new master bedroom suite, study & ensuite. Each of these spaces are designed to take advantage of the private view over the farm. A small sheltered entry with an open deck will connect the new extension to the existing home to the North.  

This home has been designed with the future in mind. It is very livability and adaptability for access considered throughout for now and in the future. It is consistent with standard construction practices and has evolved around the clients needs.

This home is big, and it needs to be it is designed to accommodate a growing family & support grand parents needs into the future. Located close to the Swan River in a rural zoned property in the Swan Valley there was also plenty of room to grow the design as well. The client had already worked unsuccessfully with another architect to achieve the design they wanted. When Plot Design was engaged we reviewed their needs & the work that had been done to date, to see where we could get a better results for the family. Working with the client we finalised a design that suited the family well.

This extension was designed to retain the existing cottage feel and include a more refined rear double storey extension. We did not want the new works to impose on the street elevation of the existing building, by having this as a clear and separate extension it would also minimise the potential issues that can be encountered when dealing with the older building. The new works include a open plan living space & alfresco on the ground floor and a new master bedroom suite upstairs.

This home is really taking shape now, it's almost at the lockup stage. On a South facing slope, energy efficiency was going to be a challenge, but thanks to the client's vision and environmental ethos. The building has been tuned to make this a high performing solar passive home, with oodles of North facing glazing soaking up the sun on the internal feature face brick walls, double glazing & high-performance insulation. Whilst still taking in the majestic views over the Helena River Catchment to the South. The initial design was prepared by Chantelle Beckett from The Paper Puzzle & Hills Building Consultants. Plot Design assisted with developing the final design & documentation.

Great location cute cottage, growing family. The home needs to grow too. This project is still a work in progress, as the client gets there feet on the ground after a new baby arrived. We look forward to working with them and their builder, as soon as life allows it.

The couple who own this cute cottage at the base of the foothills needed a bit more space the existing home is tiny buy today's standards, but they love the look and feel of it. We designed an extension on the South that would retain the existing old world frontage and create a light and bright new extension with new open plan living spaces, new master bedroom and a refreshed suite of wet areas to free up the footprint of the existing building.

I have really enjoyed working with the clients on this project. It is a little one and very effective in footprint. The older log cabin extension will be updated and tweaked internally to create more living spaces. The new extension has 2 bedrooms and a kids retreat with laundry and is connected by a breezeway and feature entry. The courtyard created to the rear and between the 2 wings will be shady, private and perfect for creating a nice native garden between them.