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Secret Door House,



Concept design for the reimagining of a suburban site in Western Sydney. Timber-clad barn volumes stack on a base of recycled brick. Timber battens screen and conceal the presence of a main entry door.



Laneway House, Newtown NSW



Concept design for a laneway house in Newtown NSW. Alternating roof planes allow light to flood and bounce into restricted spaces.



Gladesville Concept



Concept design for a restaurant and formal venue in Gladesville NSW.



Passive House



An existing brick veneer house is dissected horizontally, as a new thermal envelope and insulated subfloor support a new hip roof. FC Cladding shields the house from the threat of Southern flames as the large canopy eave shades the Northern glazing. The new addition seeks a passive house standard, while the garage and existing site works remain preserved.



Twin-pitch concept, Turramurra NSW



Dual gable roofs meet at a box gutter, supported and supporting a new deck with garage under. Extensive alterations also included a new kitchen and tiered retaining walls + a new pool.



Secondary dwelling concept, Elderslie NSW



Concept design for a secondary dwelling in Elderslie NSW. Tree-tops and sky are framed above the living space, as a timber clad periscopic volume reaches for Northern light, whilst blending into the landscape.



'Scripted Clay'



'Scripted Clay' served as a constructed ruin / augmented reality display, as part of the Reverse Archaelogies exhibition at Tin Sheds Gallery 2024. Historic Brick ID's encoded as a virtual information layer - annotations of historic up-cycled bricks (supplied by The Brick Pit Sydney).



BAL FZ, Winmalee NSW



DA Approval for an alteration in a 'Flame Zone' area. A new kitchen and side-screened balcony were added with improved fire resistance to the bushland setting.



Balcony Addition, Dover Heights NSW



A dilapidated balcony gets redesigned and constructed within close proximity to a cliff-top edge. Corrosion sensitive detailing leads to fast construction and completion.



Redfern Alteration



Concept design proposal for a contrasting alteration to an existing dormer window (prior addition). The alteration aims to provide more room space to the upper attic of a historic 'Victorian Filigree' terrace.



Swale House



A bushfire resilient cladding wraps a gable barn mass. A board-formed concrete base allows climbing landscape and native grasses to grow vertically within the base-wall surface. The gabled form cantilevers over an onsite swale delivering run-off from the northern roof plane.



Hover House



Batten cladding volumises the gable form, whilst vertical battens meet a break of earthen clay panel, neat sandy brick, and various shades of glass. The wings of the verandah take off and float as the hovering planes skim the site, providing a large canopy for shade and shelter.



Leura House NSW



A formal order of vertical gluLAM columns ties the facade to the surrounding forest. The upper floor is set back with a large canopy over, providing ample shade and cooling to the upper floor master rooms.



Re-diagram of a formal tectonic



A complex brick poché rakes and weaves through a rhythm of formally structured copper beach trees. Layers of traditional architectural theory are merged with a modern yet timeless language for the villa. Presenting a new tectonic of site-appropriate aesthetic and unornamented order.



The low impact typology of Kookaburra House



Kookaburra House - Structural bones of folded steel stiffened in shear by Mag panel are enveloped in a feathering of hardwood shakes. A copper water collection system acts as vital anatomy giving autonomous life as the house weathers into its environment. The cladding for the house is to be milled on site from vernacular trees and substituted for individual PV tiles where there is surface opportunity for sun capture. The interior is insulated in a naked hemp-wool insulation which is unlined and left soft.



Recycled Panel House



Currently under construction, Recycled Panel House is an exercise in recycled material adaption. Linseed oil paint protects a mild steel platform for the 100mm recycled SIP walls, which are wrapped in a paulownia timber cladding. The structural insulated panels for the walls (100mm) and the roof (50mm) were salvaged from a local yard at Londondary NSW and were configured ‘as found’ with adjustments made to the panels with the design adapted to the material to minimise construction waste. A steel portal truss pitches a simple light weight gable roof which allows the humble space a connection with the sky via portal lights at the gable ends.



THACH Timber Hemp Adaptive Climate Hut



‘THACH House’ is about optimizing the overall sustainability of house construction. THACH is as much a language of building as it is a singular work. A cypress pine structure interlaces with hempcrete to form the walls. The roof is adaptable to seasonal conditions and the foundations are secured without the use of concrete. All the finishes of metals and wood have been carefully selected with a priority given to ecological sensitivity.



Garden Gap House



Garden Gap House is a balance of two spaces. Two spaces connected with an outside path - sheltered by an overhead water collection tank and separated by a central garden. The Dream Room is the place of sleep and is separated from the Creative Room or home office/studio. One space is light filled, open and sunny, and the opposite space is private, dark and intentionally unilluminated. The house elicits a duality of experience - as central grey water spouts to the garden gap - and it's walls adapt to the Sun and breezes.



‘Kwatye Apwerte Inteye’ WATER ROCK HOUSE, NORTHERN TERRITORY



The existing conc. block structure is clad in recycled ironbark board & batten and COR-TEN steel to the Northern wall. The dwelling is made private by a large separating rammed earth wall. The space between the separation becomes a small outside court. The existing roof gutter is extended to meet the wall and water is encouraged to flow down through the wall following a carved out flowpath. The water follows the flow path down the wall face until meeting a single desert shrub at the ground.



Space Mountain Hut



The Space (Frame) Mountain Hut is all about materialising the essence of a practical shelter. The simple wrapping roof form serves to draw hot summer air out of the vented gable whilst cycling in cool air via the lower openings. The house is constructed from interlocking insulated panels fixed to a galvanized steel space-frame, tied structurally at the base by a portal chassis. The podium floats lightly above the ground plane upon galvanized struts. The gable-end's tilt to create a lightshelf, a full open window or a ventilation slit – acting as a manual control for the internal climate. Inside there are options for a bathroom and kitchenette as well as loft space(s) for storage or for an extra guest to stay the night. The house is designed to be light and have minimal impact on the site whilst shedding the snow, resisting the winds and nomadically escaping wild fires.



Byron Bourke launches ReUp




ReUp is the continuation of a Grad Studio Thesis on the notion of buildings as connected systems within larger self-organising systems and ecologies. ReUp’s goal is to promote the intelligence of relationships within urban and regional environments to connect and form systems of recycling and upcycling to better organize the mitigation of organic and hard urban waste.



Ashfield Heritage Alteration




Byron Bourke was engaged to design and visualize the restoration and alteration of a 1930s California Bungalow in the Inner-West of Sydney. The design involved the re-tucking and pointing of the original facade character brickwork which had been horribly rendered over in the 1970s. The rear of the house had also been subject to dated renovations as the dreary 70s back skillion was opened-up to create a bright sunny living space which steps down to a new garden, pool and pool house.



Engawa Concept for Canada Bay




Byron Bourke was engaged to develop initial concept ideation for a new development in Canada Bay, Sydney, Australia. The project was a redevelopment of an existing bowling green and bowls club. The dilapidated existing club building was converted into a modern restaurant and takes on a new form with a new slim thinned out roof plane. The roof plane extends with a vast cantilever utilising a structural interlacing of CLT sandwiched with a glue-lam beam structural grid. The existing bowling greens were kept and reinvented as functioning public space for live events and community activity.



Cork & Panel Micro Hut



Able to open completely out. Light volumetric. SIP & cork walls. Simple practical shelter affordable and scalable solution to off-grid community housing.



ECO FLAT




Eco Flat is about organic materials, recycled materials and earthly composition.
A rational order underlies the façade grid
with glass made from sand and large flat mullions made from glue laminating recycled timber. This forms a 'first skin' while a hemp curtain 'skin' controls the sun exposure. The roof sheeting is sourced from demolished sheds and carports and the thermal slab on-ground is a combination of hemp fiber and recycled aggregate concrete. A structural perimeter strip footing surrounds the slab. The roof drains away from the neighbours and falls to a large round profile gutter which delivers water to surrounding gardens or to a storage tank. A system of timber joints and glue-lam beams enable the prefabrication and transportation of the Eco Flat to remote sites or to deliver the kit of parts easily to residential backyards. The Eco Flat is available through HUTPLAN.com worldwide comencing in the Spring of 2019.




Duck-Bill House



Duck Bill House is a volumetric pre-fab micro house which is able to serve as temporary accommodation & shelter. The crusifixual window placement encourages the sense of openness whilst providing a means for cross ventilation.



Gallery Bus Shelter



Taking the idea of the graffiti scared bus stop to the next level, this bus shelter is in fact a living gallery space. The patterned roof plane spirals down with the flow of collected water which is used to reticulate the surrounding landscape.



Plywood + Container



The Kulari Master Plan takes a focus toward the human scale, as this interior perspective documents. The space is that of two 20 ft shipping containers side by side. The (lead free) recycled shipping containers are lined with plywood and sheep's wool insulation and plugged into recycled blockwork amenities core's. The balconies are created from recycled packing pallet wood, bringing the cost of the main studio space to under $7,000. The Kulari Master Plan was an entry in the West Australian Housing Commision's Affordable Housing Competition, Fremantle.



Totoro Love Hotel / Tokyo City University / 2016



Presented at Tokyo City University as part of a study scholarship with ECU the Totoro Love Hotel is designed to be an iconic attraction for international and local couples. The curved glass curtain belly of the lovable character glows with an warm ambiance which gently lights the surrounding streets.


Butterfly Affect. Transformation from statue of consumption to icon of organic



A future where car ownership changes to become more of a service than a possession begets the question of what is to become of the resultant redundant car park structures. One idea - as proposed in The Butterfly Affect project - is to invert the carpark’s ideology of consumption into an ideology of production. As the essence of carpark buildings has traditionally been the storage of fossil fuel consuming and CO2 polluting entities, its seems a logical idea that the best possible result for the carpark’s re-use is one which chases a sustainable outcome. A re-adaption of the carpark building into a sustainable building however, requires a radical re-thinking of current lifestyle trends and an imaginative projection of future green systems and tripple bottom line thinking*. Carpark structures are often plug-in appendages to shopping centres – they are our modern cultures cathedrals or statues of consumerism and consumption. This project explores a relationship of a carpark and its city context and specifically aims to counteract unthoughtful consumption with the transformation of the consumer culture’s grand statue into a chrysalis of recycling and production and eventuate a beautiful place for organic community culture to spread its wings.



Affordable Housing ?



Stacked rooms perch on a frame of chilled beams plugging into a services core built from recycled concrete blocks. Optimal cost efficiency is achieved through a replication of off-site-constructed volumes. Variation is achieved through a mix of balcony and garden facade treatments. Ultimately seeking to reduce the building back to only the essential components for 'pleasant or joyful habitation' at an extreme end of affordable housing.



Affordable Housing, Campsie - Byron Bourke & Tynan Jane



An arched arcade wraps the internal courtyard to the rear of low scale brick perimeter housing. A transept of generational housing intersects the master plan and softens the brick with a lighter timber shutter cladding. The existing underground carpark is retained and fitted with bikes and personal storage. Part of the site to the east is left for parkland and connections are made with the private landscape within the complex.



Dragonfly Structure Design



A collaboration with Estefano Bonf & Michelle Melo, the Dragonfly involves the use of varying colours of light-spectrum-filtering membrane(s) which enhance the growth of seasonal wildflowers.



Swan View / Alteration



A young couple in Western Australia required an extension and new backyard alfresco area. A separate structure was designed to keep the augmentation of the existing roof to a minimum.



Rockwall House, Conniston.



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Food Forest with Vegan Food Court



A roof top greenhouse fits above an existing carpark structure as openings are cut from the floors to give light to the market under. Part of a research project for the University of Sydney Master of Architecture program.



Wollongong / Cliff / House



Vertical panels of precast concrete endure a harsh site condition as a curved upper boundary shelters a ground floor divided with blade walls.



Dancing-Climata Mech



The Dancing-Climata Mech is a solar powered sand-sintering all-terrain quadrupedal robot. It was a design for Digital Architecture Research Studio at the The University of Sydney. The idea is to re-target the budget expenditure of the military towards climate change weapons - considering climate change weather effects as a global threat, perhaps more pertinent than human war or conflict. The robot sinters sand and spits propagules, restoring the coastal dunes. Many mechs may also interlock to form connected structures. Such structures include a floating snowflake super structure which floats in the ocean retrieving debris and other spills.



Code to Production 2018



Explorations in the weaving of twine and pattern.



Cat-Roof / Micro-House



A climbable roof makes use of a confined footprint. Sitting areas inside are covered with a cave like roofing. A loft opens to the outer air allowing ventilation up and along the ceiling. The sturdy roof decking is designed to act as a place to sit, defining the house as a sculpted object which also happens to be habitable.


USyd Coursework / Anderson Stewart Building / Access Ramp



The University of Sydney - Master of Architecture coursework. Proposed new access ramp for the Anderson Stuart Building, Darlington campus. The building is a celebrated and highly significant example of Elizabethan Gothic Revival architecture. First designed in 1884-90 by James Barnet, with later additions by Walter Liberty Vernon in 1909-12 and with further additions by Professor Leslie Wilkinson in 1922. The building is constructed out of golden Sydney sandstone with internal block masonry and concrete and its front entry steps appear (upon site inspection) to be made from levelled stone. The project involved the design of a code compliant access ramp which is sympathetic and of appropriate fit in character to the incredible beauty of the Anderson Stuart Medical School Building.



SIP Micro House



Micro House built for resilience and flood mitigation. The house includes attachments for large wheeled trailers and ground screw pegs. Economically viability at its core, Micro House delivers an affordable temporary / crisis accommodation typology, to house many more people, quickly.



HUTPLAN / Australian Hardwood



Australian Hardwood forms a compact structure with vernacular elements of corrugated iron and galvanised flashings. An enduring public structure and multifunctional shelter.



KENDO Dojo / 剣道道場



A Dojo for the practice of the Japanese martial art Kendo. The design takes cues from samurai armour and traditional kitana sword craft.



Australian Museum of Ancient and Modern Cosmology - Urban Case Study Waterloo NSW - Byron Bourke & Sandy Chen



The precinct carries a complex historical community context with many cultural layers and dichotomous social juxtapositions. A famed history of residents in battle with a state run public housing authority swilling with the subtle defiance of an ever obtruding and gentrifying private sector. The project connects the citizen with the cosmic universe providing path and platform to inner calm and restoration. Throughout history, science and art have been linked by their shared exploration and study of the natural world. The Australian Museum of Cosmology documents ancient Australian cosmological story as well as star exploration by early explorers and contributions from Australian scientist, astronomers, astrophysicists and cosmologists in the 20th & 21st centuries. Holographic water voxels technology assists as display and visual narration which helps tell these stories. The clocktower serves and reflects the Waterloo of today whilst housing international hotel and private residence. The central Zen Sky-Garden surrounds a large cylendrically wrapped water screen, which cloaks the structural core with the invisibility of the displayed sky and serves as insight into the buildings conscious memory (AI system). The indigenous stained-glass fluting lens' the surrounding urban view of Southern Sydney with a dotted glaze. The glass couples with the site referenced saw-tooth and Australian flag star point geometry (40 star points), creating a duology which grounds the building in place and time.



Virtual Reality Tower



Entry to the Super Studio competition 2019 hosted at the University of New South Wales. A combined team entry with other participating students examining the idea of an Ai assisted learning environment.



Sydney Gargoyle



4 Page comic book. Entry to the SuperStudio design competition 2018. Exploring a hypothetical notion of the future of crime fighting robotics and how these ideas might merge with our traditional architectural heritage buildings.



Advanced Fabrication 2018



Fragments of stone form voussoirs and keystones for a vaulted cantenary structure in central Australia.



Fluidity of Time



A fragmented glass tripanel roof reflects in the ultra-sheen coating of the floor. The effect is prismatic kaleidoscopic experience for those passing through.



Dotted Sprawl / Indigenous Lens



Dotted and colored glass layers the outward view of urban sprawl, blurring the buildings context into a liminal work of visual effect.



Tree Structures



Branching steel and timber composite columns populate the upper office spaces giving the feeling of working in a forest.



Unicorn Elegencia Arch



A masculine torso twists to form an upward reach of ephemeral beauty. Marble carved by robotic arms forms an introductory exercise in high-tech classism.



Floating Forest / Timber Blockchain



Conceptual idea for a sustainable economy backed by the timber of floating paulownia trees.



Design Studio Exhibition / 2017



A perimeter of neat brick buildings encloses a dropped down courtyard of semi public private space. As multi-generational long houses divide the open space into further more private areas. An arcuated arcade wraps the inner courtyards, screening light and blocking cross surveillance from neighbours.



Images by Byron Bourke Copyright 2019