Making the existing building work harder in Coogee

The wall you most want to remove may be carrying the floor above. The bathroom that looks easy to relocate may connect to a shared stack. Before an attractive new floor plan becomes the brief, we would draw another plan: the building that is already there, with its structure, services and changes in level made clear.

This is a useful starting point in Coogee, where council’s historical research describes coastal medium-density buildings alongside earlier houses and a steep street grid climbing towards ridgelines. A renovation in an apartment, an attached house and a detached home will have different freedoms. Understanding those differences can turn a wish for more space into a more precise architectural proposal.

Find the building’s bones before choosing the new plan

We would begin with measured rooms and available building drawings, then identify what needs a closer investigation. A thick wall, a column or a change in ceiling height can suggest a structural arrangement, but appearance alone does not establish what can be altered. Where an opening is proposed, an engineer’s assessment helps the architect understand the load path and the work it would introduce.

Compare a wide structural opening with a smaller opening that keeps more of the wall. The second option might preserve a useful place for storage, simplify the junction with the ceiling or keep the room’s proportions more settled. The larger option may be worthwhile if it creates a genuinely better connection. Draw both with furniture and circulation, rather than deciding from the width of the opening alone.

For an apartment or another strata property, we would also establish the boundary between the home and shared parts of the building. Current scheme information and suitable professional advice are needed before committing to changes involving structure, waterproofing or common property. That investigation belongs near the beginning of design, while there is still room to compare alternatives.

Let service positions inform the kitchen and bathroom

A kitchen can look free-standing on a floor plan while depending on drainage, ventilation and electrical routes through the building. We would locate the existing connections and investigate how a proposed change could reach them. In an apartment, those routes may be less adaptable than the cabinetry; in a house, floor construction and the available access still matter.

Before moving the entire kitchen, test what happens if the sink remains near its existing position while storage, preparation space and the connection to dining are redesigned. Compare that with relocation, including any effect on floor levels, ceiling space and adjoining rooms. A smaller change can deserve a generous design effort if it improves the part of the room used every day.

The bathroom deserves the same attention. A different door position or a more considered arrangement of fixtures may improve access and storage without moving the room. Where relocation is the stronger option, identify the servicing and waterproofing implications early enough for the design and construction advice to develop together.

Measure the room you gain, rather than the wall you lose

Once the fixed elements are understood, the plan becomes more interesting. A retained wall can contain joinery; a new partition can give an awkward corner a useful purpose. We would place the actual sofa, dining table and storage requirements on the drawing and follow the route between the entrance, kitchen and other rooms.

Compare one large undivided space with a living room and a smaller adjoining room. Ask whether the larger option leaves enough uninterrupted wall for furniture, and whether the smaller room has a useful shape and its own way in. A partition that gives both spaces a clear job can be more valuable than a larger floor area that mostly serves as a passage.

Existing windows help organise that comparison. Bring the room’s use towards a worthwhile source of light or an outlook, then check what happens to the space left behind. An internal reorganisation should improve the complete plan, rather than producing one appealing corner at the expense of the rest of the home.

Draw Coogee’s changes in level through the building

On a sloping Coogee property, a plan needs a section alongside it. Council’s character research records streets and buildings adapting to the ground. For the actual address, a measured survey can show how the street, entrance, floors, neighbours and outdoor space relate; the historical description does not establish those levels for an individual home.

An extension might continue an existing floor or step towards the garden. Compare the quality of the outdoor connection with the stairs and retaining work each arrangement introduces. A lower living room could meet the ground more directly while making the route from bedrooms less convenient. Keeping one level could simplify movement inside while requiring a more deliberate terrace or landing outside.

For a new home, these relationships can organise the building from the outset. We would study how structure and service spaces sit with the ground, alongside entry and room connections. The aim is a coherent home on its particular site, rather than a flat plan adjusted with steps after the rooms have been settled.

Choose the scope with the whole building in view

A renovation, an addition and a new home should be compared through the improvements each can deliver. Record the condition and qualities of retained fabric, investigate the current planning and heritage information for the address, and obtain early structural and cost advice. An older room’s proportions or a sound part of the structure can have value even when its present layout does not.

Construction access belongs in that discussion too. We would ask how materials, removed fabric and new components can move through the property and how the proposed work meets the existing building. For an apartment, shared access needs its own coordination; for a house, a restricted side passage can influence the construction approach. These are questions to check on the actual property, not assumptions about every Coogee home.

Bring the existing building into the first conversation

Bring benssur a plan, photographs, any available building records and the changes you most want to make. Mark the awkward routes and the rooms whose size or arrangement disappoints you. For a Coogee renovation, extension or new home, we can use that information to compare a few clear design directions before the scope becomes fixed.

Further reading

• Randwick heritage research — Coogee character,2021
• Randwick — current development control plan
• NSW Government — renovating a strata property

Historical character research does not establish current heritage status or permissions for an individual property.