Bougainvillea Row House – A Modern Terrace Home by Luigi Rosselli

This project from New South Wales in Australia has been titled Bougainvillea Row House. It’s a row house (or as it’s more commonly known in Europe, a terrace house) and has been given a new lease on life thanks to architect Luigi Rosselli.

Terrace housing – when done right – can be a possible solution to the current housing crisis faced by many large cities. It’s for this reason that Sydney’s planners are considering reintroducing terrace houses as a recommended building type.

Bougainvillea Row House is set on an area of 1,054.86-square-feet (98-square-meters) and contains three floors. The project was completed in 2017 and was carried out for a client who works as a film director. The architects saw it has an opportunity to demonstrate the flexibility associated with this housing typology.

Despite it’s size, the house packs a punch in terms of living spaces. It contains a guest flat, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a study, dressing room and laundry, and an open-plan living room, dining room and kitchen. It’s also got a substantial garden and courtyards to the back, as well as a small bedroom balcony.

According to the architects, they drew on inspiration from the concept of Raumplan – a design with a Tetris style interlocking of rooms. Bougainvillea Row House contains split-level floors. To the front, the three story’s have been “compacted”, whereas to the rear of the building there are only two story’s, providing the rooms in this area with a far greater ceiling height.

The house is finished in a decadent fashion; there are arched doors doors and openings, gold-look fixtures and fittings and marble-topped counters. The finished appears to draw on Art Deco with it’s glam and elegance. The ground floor of the home is dedicated to the open-plan living area, and contains an outdoor terrace to the front.

The first floor contains two bedrooms, a study, laundry room and bathroom. The second floor contains the master bedroom with an en-suite. At the very opposite end of the property, beyond the rear courtyard/garden, there’s a garage, complete with a storage loft.

For more small houses check out the Glass Link House, a small home built by the architect for his family. Or, this design by Jamelo Arquitetura, which saw then create a modern guest house. See all small houses.

Photos © Justin Alexander, Sean Johnson