MANLY HOUSE

A stacked duplex is converted into a single residence within the existing two-storey double-brick envelope. A series of careful cuts to the walls, floor and roof create a continuous flow of spaces from the entry and garden, up a stairwell filled with light from a large skylight above to the living areas on the upper floor, which look out over the landscape.

Each of the seven new openings in the building are treated differently. An expansive clear opening to the rear garden is created by replacing the existing bi-folding timber framing with a single piece of glass that slides out of view on an external steel track. A finely crafted steel staircase winds up through a spacious opening in the floor. A skylight over this void spills light throughout the house. Over the kitchen bench a large fixed glass window brings the nearby trees into the room, while a small square winding casement window over the stove draws fresh air. Finally, the original sunroom has been fitted with a series of mechanical steel pivot windows that dramatically open the corner of the room to the valley of Manly, Sydney Harbour and the Pacific Ocean.

By Toby Breakspear, in collaboration with Tomek Archer, 2013. Photography by Peter Bennetts.

AITKEN AVENUE APARTMENTS

The Aitken Avenue Apartments is currently under construction across from Aitken Reserve in Queenscliff. More information coming soon.

By Toby Breakspear, Ciaran Acton, John Kang, Matthew Argent, Lucie Hlavsova, Andy Huang, Alberto Quizon, 2017-Current.

KINGS CROSS MIXED USE

Across a complete block of Kings Cross, seven fine-grain, brick buildings are carefully composed amongst the site’s eclectic heritage fabric and organised around a central courtyard. The buildings house a diverse mix of functions. Two pub venues bookend the site at prominent corners of Darlinghust Road, Sydney’s most famous nightlife strip. Small commercial tenancies, residential entrances and hotel venues add detail to a richly articulated street edge. The tall arched rooms of a grand hospital from the early 1900s are repurposed for a boutique hotel’s public bar and foyer. Above, on level two to eight, dual-aspect apartments enjoy outlooks to both the city skyline and the inner garden. The densely planted courtyard forms a micro-climate for relief from the bustling surrounds.Â

By Toby Breakspear, Matthew Argent, Ciaran Acton, John Kang, in collaboration with Fender Katsalidis, 2019

Invited City of Sydney Design Excellence Competition

ASHMORE APARTMENTS

The Ashmore Apartments organises three building around two garden courtyards and a new public laneway. A unifying rhythm of facade details that provide shade and privacy are presented to the street edges. Dispersed through the buildings are apartments, a childcare centre and retail spaces. Movement through the site’s public spaces is oriented for connectivity with the village centre. A rich tapestry of city living is encouraged with adjacencies between shops, dwellings, gardens, laneways and streets.Â

By Toby Breakspear, Tiffany Liew, in collaboration with Kann Finch (Executive Architect), 2017.

Invited City of Sydney Design Excellence Competition with Greenland Group

THE ROCKS APARTMENTS

Rather than align with the street grid, a building is proposed with a herringbone plan that arranges 180 apartments on axis with iconic views of Sydney’s harbour, its bridge and opera house. Every apartment faces north, away from the neighbouring freeway traffic and towards the water; an orientation also ideal for capturing Sydney’s sun and sea breeze. Without compromise to structural efficiency, a staggered floor plate arrangement enables each apartment’s outdoor terrace to be a double height private room. A generosity and dynamism is given to the building’s facade, an edge made ideal for basking in the harbour spectacle.

By Toby Breakspear, Alberto Quizon, in collaboration with Kann Finch (Executive Architect), 2015.

Invited Design Competition, 2nd Place

MOUNTAIN CULTURE BREWPUB

The Echo building in Katoomba began life in 1912 as a printing house for local Blue Mountains newspaper. In the century following, the building had a colourful and varied existence until ending up as Civic Video store that was ultimately abandoned by 2017. It was at this time that Mountain Culture Beer Co was established as a craft beer brewing company. Owners Harriet and DJ discovered The Echo and saw it’s potential for their company’s brewpub. They imagined the place brining people together to enjoy their new beer. Breakspear Architects assisted Mountain Culture with transforming the dilapidated Echo. We aimed to re-discover the building’s lost charm when beginning its new life as a brewpub.

By Toby Breakspear, Tiffany Liew. For Mountain Culture Beer Co. 2017-2019 Completed. Photography by Mountain Culture and Broadsheet (Kitti Gould).

SPRINGWOOD LIBRARY

Springwood Library can become a serene lounge room for the Blue Mountains community; a room filled with books, fitted with approachable technology, framed by a robust structure and imbued with the presence of the surrounding bush. The existing library is a closed building, designed when libraries were hushed places for solitary reading. The renovation will create a more dynamic space that performs the modern library’s evolving role as a public place to meet, learn and interact.

By Toby Breakspear, Tiffany Liew, in collaboration with McGregor Coxall Landscape Architects, 2016.

BELVOIR THEATRE

The Belvoir Theatre project was an opportunity to work with one of Sydney’s leading cultural institutions to develop architectural strategies and designs for the foyer, street facade and entry-way. A new bar/cafe was introduced for additional vitality and an expanded offering to the public. A new awning, signage, outdoor furniture and facade restoration was designed to enliven the public face of Belvoir Theatre.Â

By Toby Breakspear, in collaboration with Tomek Archer, 2012-2014.

BLAXLAND TOWN CENTRE

The Blue Mountains World Heritage area sits nearby the growing city centres of Sydney’s west. From this city expansion comes an increase in the desire to live in or visit the Blue Mountains towns, such as Blaxland. The Blue Mountains City Council engaged Breakspear Architects to envisage new housing and commercial typologies within Blaxland’s existing built fabric. The aim was to explore how urban vitality and density could be increased in Blaxland whilst respecting the existing community priorities and world heritage surrounds. Underground parking, train connectivity, pedestrianised streets, shop-top housing and landscaping were considered as evolutions to Blaxland’s existing street pattern and two-storey building heights. It is hoped the Blaxland study can inform how the Blue Mountains towns can develop in a fine-grain manner that maintains their existing qualities and sense of the wilderness beyond. 

By Toby Breakspear, Tiffany Liew. For Blue Mountains City Council

LUNE DE SANG SHEDS BY CHROFI

  • Lune de Sang Shed

Lune de Sang is a unique inter-generational venture that will see former dairy farm properties transformed into a rainforest landscape for selective harvesting. Time is a fascinating consideration for the project as the native species planted will take up to 300 years to mature. The sheds and houses designed amongst the site are conceived with a sense of permanence in response to the rainforest timeframes.

Toby Breakspear was fortunate to work on the Lune de Sang project for two years with CHROFI prior to establishing Breakspear Architects. He is very grateful for the experience, and it has informed much of how he approaches design with Breakspear Architects.

By CHROFI, Toby Breakspear as Project Architect, John Choi, Steven Fighera, Tai Ropiha, Jerome Cateaux, Clinton Weaver, Linda Lam, Felix Rasch, 2009-2011. Photography by Brett Boardman.

2015 Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Awards
2014 World Architecture Festival category winner
2014 Archdaily finalist for World Building of the Year
2014 Australian Institute of Architects, Commercial Architecture Award
2014 Architizer A+ Award, Category Winner