Architect: Ahron Best Architects
Builder: Michael Fakhoury (Buildax)
Location: Randwick, NSW
Partridge worked as structural engineers on a major alteration and addition to an existing home at Randwick. The project brought together a strong architectural concept with a number of structural challenges, particularly around long spans, limited wall support, and the need to integrate new construction with the existing building.
One of the main design objectives was to create large, open internal spaces with very few internal walls. From a structural perspective, this meant relying more heavily on beams and columns to carry loads. Steel framing was used to achieve the required spans and maintain overall lateral stability of the structure, while still allowing the spaces to remain open and flexible.
Large window, high ceilings and door openings were another defining feature of the project. These openings reduced the amount of solid wall available to support the structure, making the position of posts and supporting elements especially important. Careful coordination was required to ensure the structure worked efficiently without disrupting the architectural layout.
The design also included a number of custom screens and concealed fixings. While these elements appear simple, they required specific structural detailing to ensure they performed properly and ensuring they remained out of view once complete.
A curved high ceiling formed part of the architectural intent and introduced additional loads to the roof structure, requiring early coordination to ensure the framing layout aligned with the intended design.
The new extension was built alongside the existing house on a very tight site.
The inclusion of a planter box within the lightweight roof structure added further complications by introducing additional load. As the roof materials consisted of a lightweight structure, strengthening of the roof framing was required, with careful waterproofing detailing to ensure a weather and watertight outcome above the living area.
Overall, the project complexity and intent was solved by articulate structural solutions. Partridge’s role was to work closely with the architect team and the builder to translate the intent into a structure that could be built efficiently and perform reliably over time.
