Driveway House

A 60sqm secondary dwelling placed alongside the existing to create a small home for a live-in carer with its own relationship to the street and backyard.

This project represents an innovative family collaboration in the face of housing unaffordability in Sydney. The client for this project could afford to build a house, but not buy any land. Her elderly mother wanted to stay in her home but was increasingly in need of care. The solution was to build the daughter's house on the mothers land, enabling the mother to remain in her lifelong home with family care nearby.


The house is built in place of an existing garage and occupies the width of a single driveway. Entry to the new house is from the front deck of the existing house which becomes the common space for both homes. The second bedroom is located downstairs connected to an undercroft space for use by the adult son.

The Affordable Housing SEPP has been utilised to achieve substantial development gains. Careful panning and placement of windows was needed to add sense of generosity to the minimum space standards required by the regulations.The gables form and the zincalume cladding create a clean, modern yet sympathetic addition to the property.

The project enables all three occupants of the property to benefit from shared proximity while also maintaining their individual privacy.

We managed the DA and construction documentation for this project.