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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n It\u2019s the kind of email no architect wants to read.<\/p>\n In 2021, after several COVID-related delays, the extension to a 1920s Paddington workers\u2019 cottage was finally completed. Architect Christopher Bligh had added a treehouse-like master bedroom to the back of the house, with an origami-style ceiling and a playful two-storey vine mesh screen.<\/p>\n Five months later, the house burned down in a fire started by a mosquito repellent burner.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe had an email from the client and a phone call just a day or two after the fire,\u201d Bligh said.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously they were quite traumatised, but were wanting to quickly get on with trying to get their home back.\u201d<\/p>\n While the bulk of the dwelling was reduced to ashes, Bligh\u2019s extension, due to being only narrowly connected to the main house, remained standing.<\/p>\n His firm, Bligh Graham, was given the task of designing a new home in response to their initial addition to the old home.<\/p>\n Christened the Hakea House, it has now made the shortlist for the best House Alteration & Addition Over 200m2 in the 2026 Houses Awards.<\/p>\n \u201cHakea is an Australian native tree which blooms after fire, and we thought that was appropriate given its history,\u201d Bligh said.<\/p>\n The Houses Awards recognise residential architecture and act as a lens for trends in Australian home design.<\/p>\n \u201cMany homes in this year\u2019s shortlist are innovative reworkings of existing dwellings rather than knock-down rebuilds,\u201d said Houses magazine editor and awards jury chair Alexa Kempton.<\/p>\n Kempton said the five-bedroom Hakea House was unusual as it was \u201cdesigned in reverse\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cDesigning a house for the extension has resulted in a rich home, and a contemporary spin on the climatically attuned Queenslander house,\u201d Kempton said.<\/p>\n Bligh said the original front cottage section was largely rebuilt as it was to retain its character and \u201cavoid a fight with the council\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article Some of the front facade had remained intact in the blaze, and some cottage windows and doors were also salvaged for reuse.<\/p>\n A brick fireplace and the backyard pool also survived.<\/p>\n The rebuild included an \u201cinterior deck\u201d that allows the outside in with sliding doors. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a contemporary version of the built-in veranda, the classic old Brisbane way of grabbing more space out of the Queenslander,\u201d Bligh said.<\/p>\n The space overlooks a garden court and allows winter light deep into the downstairs living space.<\/p>\n Darker wood tones are a deliberate response to hot Brisbane summers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a real trend in Brisbane for everything to be white and schmick,\u201d Bligh said. \u201cWe wanted to nod to our part of the world, living in Asia and in a subtropical climate.\u201d<\/p>\n Blight said the clients, a family with teenage children, are delighted with the results.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a happy end to the difficult journey \u2026 Architecture is always problem-solving, and this is just a different type of problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Twenty Queensland homes are among those shortlisted for the Houses Awards, and winners are announced on September 4, 2026.<\/p>\n Get alerts on significant breaking news as happens. Sign up for our Breaking News Alert<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/7fa487fbe7118e59f1cabfd55241639130d09a323047d3115c5c311a4e1d8392.jpeg\")
This middle portion of the house creates a dramatic, north-facing double-height garden court.Christopher Fredrick Jones<\/p>\n![\"Given](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ffb3697d9361bfa49412d6749b7f5378971edbef1f04a1034a52b38afef39165.jpeg\")
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Nick Dent<\/a> is a Culture Reporter at Brisbane Times, covering arts, entertainment and things to do in the city.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-717156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}