Draped House
Chatswood, Sydney
Draped House is a three-bedroom home of 129 square metres finished in 2022 in Chatswood, on a 750 square metre block subdivided from one owner's grandparents' backyard, for a young couple with many pets. A remnant forest tree on the block drove the design, and the house went through the fast-track complying development approval that usually produces project homes.
The plan is a square with two outdoor spaces cut out of it, and the architects say the ceiling answers that: "To offset the compact floor plan, the ceiling is triumphant and billowing, welcoming soft natural light and glimpses into neighbouring tree canopies." The round white light in the foreground is a Flos Glo Ball and the tiered one over the table is a Louis Poulsen PH pendant; the floors are exposed concrete slab and Victorian ash, and the window and door frames are recycled hardwood. In 2023 the house took a commendation for new houses at the New South Wales Architecture Awards.
Trias
Trias is a Sydney architecture studio founded in 2017 by Jennifer McMaster, Casey Bryant and Jonathon Donnelly, all three of them directors on this house. McMaster on the studio's thinking: "The more we can design homes that are adaptable and robust, the less we are demolishing buildings because they are too rigid in their planning."
Architecture Trias (@trias.studio), Jennifer McMaster. Photography @_clintonweaver. Seen via @designspeaks_au and @housesmagazine.
The picture comes from this post on Instagram.
Researched September 2026. I credit each piece as carefully as I can; if you know more about this one, message me on Instagram.