Architecture studio Welsh and Major designed a contemporary family home on a narrow, yet lengthy site in the Sydney suburb of Annandale.

Built for a busy family of four, the Annandale House is a two-storey extension set behind an existing weatherboard cottage, with a series of interlocking masonry volumes placed to gain the maximum amount of light and air.

A lightwell between the cottage and the extension allows plenty of light to the lower floor. Three new brick volumes slide down the southern side of the site, each volume progressively thinner like the tubes of a telescope, enabling the site to be opened along the northern side to maximise valuable open space.

Raw yet sophisticated, the house provides calm and relaxing living spaces that engage with its occupants.

Photography: Michael Nicholson