Brisbane home with ‘upside down’ backyard crowned Australia’s House of the Year

Annie O’Rourke and Jim Jackson love their Clayfield home. Photo: Lyndon Mechielsen.

A Brisbane family home that turns the traditional backyard on its head has been crowned the best house in Australia.

Half Light House, an inventive extension to a timber cottage in Clayfield, has taken out Australian House of the Year at the 2026 Houses Awards, also winning the category for House Alteration and Addition Over 200 Square Metres.

Annie O’Rourke and Jim Jackson at the winning Australian House of the Year in Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen.

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Designed by Brisbane architect John Ellway, Annie O’Rourke and Jim Jackson’s home is built around a central shaded swimming pool that can be seen from its living spaces, with the pool and deck effectively pulled inside the footprint of the house.

“People come in and they sort of get to a certain point and they’re looking out the back at the garden and the view and then they say; ‘Oh, there’s a pool down there!’” Ms O’Rourke said.

“I think we were in a stage where every time we wanted to go into a pool with the kids we had the sunscreen, the rashies, it was a huge process, and then by the time you got in there, it was getting on to later in the day and you’d have to get out because it was too hot and the sun was too strong.

“We said to John at the start, look we want a pool under the deck — underneath in some ways — so we could just use it any time of the day.”

Ms O’Rourke said the couple worked with Mr Ellway to choose finishes for the new part of the house that made it feel homely and liveable, rather than “perfect, shiny, almost plastic”.

“We didn’t want a house that sort of felt like a showpiece,” she said. “We wanted it to just be something that everybody could be happy and comfortable living in, and I guess where the experience of living in it doesn’t detract from the house, and a few bumps and knocks and scratches aren’t going to make it not look good anymore.”

This Clayfield home has won House of the Year at the national Houses awards. Image: Toby Scott.

This Clayfield home has won House of the Year at the national Houses awards. Image: Toby Scott.

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Rather than simply extending the original cottage towards the backyard, Mr Ellway used the property’s sloping block to stack the outdoor spaces, raising the deck above the pool so it provides shade while allowing both areas to be used independently.

Mr Jackson said the property’s name of ‘Half Light House’ originated from the way it reflected light and shade at different angles throughout the day.

“We’ve got different shades coming in at different times during the day and you can just sort of see the light and the dark dancing in different ways, and likewise, the lighting at night is very similar. It’s a bit understated and moody.”

From the front, you wouldn’t guess what was inside. Image: Toby Scott.

Light and shadows are cast on the kitchen in the Clayfield home. Image: Toby Scott.

Kitchen, dining, bedroom and studio spaces are connected through views across a central void and between levels, allowing family members to occupy separate parts of the house while remaining visually connected.

“My favourite spot at the moment is the secret reading room,” Mr Jackson said. “It’s a good place to hide, and it’s very quiet.”

The judges praised the project for achieving a “spatially rich and atmospheric house” without resorting to a sprawling footprint, while retaining and restoring the character of the original cottage.

The master bedroom in the John Ellway designed home. Image: Toby Scott.

The win makes Mr Ellway the only designer to have twice claimed the Houses Awards’ top honour, after his Three House project was named Australian House of the Year in 2021.

Mr Ellway said he was particularly proud of making the home’s western orientation at the back work in its favour.

“A lot of people get scared of building to the west with the psycho afternoon sun, but we made it work here simply with the five blinds,” he said.

“It means you can enjoy the beautiful sunsets late in the day, every day.”

Annie O’Rourke and Jim Jackson’s Clayfield home has won Australia’s House of the Year at the Houses 2026 Awards. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen.

The pool is the hero feature of the home. Image: Toby Scott.

Elsewhere, an extraordinary sculptural home perched on a rocky escarpment in the NSW Southern Highlands won New House Under 200 Square Metres, while Hislop Hill House in Victoria took out the over-200-square-metre new home category.

Other winners included a playful renovation of a 1930s Art Deco apartment in Sydney’s Elizabeth Bay and a vibrant standalone bathhouse in the NSW hinterland.

Houses magazine editor and jury chair Alexa Kempton said this year’s winners reflected a broader shift away from oversized homes towards properties designed as places of sanctuary.

“Economic and environmental uncertainty is undoubtedly shaping briefs,” she said.

Rather than building to the extremities of blocks, Ms Kempton said architects were increasingly embracing gardens and surrounding landscapes and designing homes with “restraint and longevity in mind”.

The Houses Awards recognise Australia’s leading residential architecture across new homes, renovations, apartments, sustainability, heritage and small projects.