Tucked into a leafy hillside, this beautifully reimagined 1920s Queenslander finds a rare sense of calm in the midst of the city. Behind its modest façade, the home reveals a layered world of light, texture, and connection — a modern Queenslander renovation that balances refuge and openness, privacy and place.
The project by Alexandra Buchanan Architecture began with a clear intention: to create a contemporary Queenslander home that feels both grounded and expansive, equally attuned to the subtropical climate and the intimacy of family life.
The site — a narrow lot framed closely by its neighbours — presented both challenge and opportunity. While space was limited, its elevation offered cross breezes from the north and distant views across the hills to the south — a natural starting point for rethinking how light and air could flow through a Queenslander renovation designed for modern living.
At its heart, a central courtyard acts as a quiet lung for the house — drawing in daylight, funnelling breezes, and creating a sense of openness that belies the compact site. This inward focus allows the architecture to breathe, providing shade, cooling, and a moment of stillness at the centre of the plan. The courtyard also becomes a defining threshold, distinguishing the restored heritage Queenslander from its contemporary addition while maintaining a seamless dialogue between the two.
Inside, the home unfolds across split levels that follow the slope of the hill, creating a dynamic interplay of height and space. The kitchen occupies a transitional level, bridging old and new, while living spaces step down toward the garden — a sequence that feels both fluid and deliberate. Operable façades open to capture breezes through summer, while the home’s orientation and deep overhangs ensure comfort through the warmer months and intimacy in the cooler ones.
Materiality plays a quiet yet essential role in the story. A restrained palette of timber, concrete, and stone reflects the tactile warmth of Queenslander architecture, while neutral tones refresh the original cottage. Textures shift subtly from the restored upper level to the newer spaces below, where natural materials and earthy hues evoke the relaxed modernity of Sri Lankan and Singaporean interiors — a hallmark of a contemporary Queenslander home.
Bathrooms are conceived as sanctuaries in their own right — spaces of calm where light softens against natural finishes. Throughout, the structure itself is expressed and celebrated, framing views, defining thresholds, and creating intimate nooks for pause or reflection.
It’s a masterful study in equilibrium: between the past and the present, openness and enclosure, formality and ease — a modern Queenslander renovation that doesn’t shout its presence but reveals it gently, capturing the quiet art of living well in the subtropics.
Design: Alexandra Buchanan Architecture
Build: BBH Projects
Photography: Cieran Murphy
Stylist: Tory Waller
