Leichhardt, New South Wales, Australia
Life on the edge. Perched on a 6m high cliff, this project takes full advantage of its spectacular site, which enjoys stunning views out over an adjacent escarpment and to Sydney’s Middle Harbour beyond.
Perch House by pH+ Architects, received an 2025 International Architecture Honourable Mention from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
The design of the new home mediates between two conditions; the wildness of the escarpment to the immediate north; and the ‘garden suburb’ to the south, in which it sits.
Primary accommodation is elevated, enjoying expansive water views north. These are framed by a generous external terrace that cantilevers out over the sandstone cliff below, extending the main living spaces out towards the breath-taking exterior of the escarpment.
In contrast, the relationship to the neighbourhood is more introverted. A series of ramps between floors (and roof), define a buffer zone between house and street, that incorporates greenery of a more controlled nature, referencing the suburban context.
A floating, semi-permeable, corten screen veils this external space towards the street, with each metal fin carefully configured to strike an appropriate balance between privacy for residents and engagement with the public domain. The screen continues to envelop the sides of new home, only breaking to frame the dramatic view north, providing both a legible and logical response to the site.
The materiality of the new home is directly driven by its location, sitting immediately adjacent to bushfire prone land. A palette of sandstone, concrete, terrazzo and corten steel is adopted to achieve a BAL-FZ rating, along with considered detailing to conceal bushfire shutters throughout. The same materials continue within the home, blurring definitions of inside and out, but here they convey key datums underpinning the design.
The elevated upper floor adopts a lighter palette reflecting the more extroverted communal spaces, as they extend outwards and up. Roof pop-ups over primary living spaces provide internal ceiling heights of 4.2m, as they bring daylight and the diurnal cycle deep into the home. These work in conjunction with floor to ceiling glazing that retracts fully, either into pockets or beyond the building itself, ensuring ample daylight and natural cross ventilation.
Below, the grounded lower level also offers connection to the outdoors, but here spaces are more introverted. A darker palette is adopted with materials conveying a sense of mass, as they frame and focus attention to more immediate greenery within the site.
With a further roof terrace opening up to the sky above, the design of the new home sets up a series of relationships between interior and exterior, ensuring that no matter where residents are, they will have a varied, yet direct relationship to the dramatic location.
Architects: pH+ Architects
Design Team: Drew Hamilton and John Scallon
General Contractor: Newmark Constructions Pty Ltd.
Client: Private
Photographers: Tom Ferguson Photography
