A curve, not a corner
The two archway returns were formed on site over four days by a single plasterer working from a plywood template — there isn't a straight edge in either doorway.
Office
Unit 2/9-11 Baillieu Court
Mitchell ACT 2911
Australia
Enquire
hello@deolbuilt.com.au
0403 890 301
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HouseBraddon · North Canberra2025
Braddon Loft House
A curved plaster ceiling and two hand-laid archways turn a narrow inner-north block into something that feels twice its size.
TypeHouse
LocationBraddon, North Canberra
Delivered2025
Build time10 months
The Brief
How this home came to be.
The block was eighteen metres wide and hemmed in by neighbours on both sides, so the brief turned inward — curved plaster returns instead of square cornices, and two archways that pull light from the rear courtyard through to the front door.
Every wall between the kitchen and the dining room was set out on site with a laser level before a single stud went in, because a curve that's a few millimetres out reads as a mistake, not a feature.
Site area
420 m²
Internal
238 m²
Bedrooms
4
Bathrooms
2
Garage
Double
Star rating
7.3
Photographs
On site.
Shot over three visits — dawn, midday and dusk — so the material palette reads the way the family will actually live in it.
What's inside
The specification, in plain English.
Every line here is something we insisted on — not something added to fatten a quote.
- 01Hand-formed curved plaster returns at both archways
- 02European oak herringbone flooring on a floating acoustic underlay
- 03Full-height glazing to the rear courtyard for cross-light
- 04Feature pendant lighting on dedicated dimmable circuits
- 05Ducted reverse-cycle air conditioning, zoned to five areas
- 06Structural steel portal frame in place of the original load-bearing wall
Signature moments
The things worth
pointing out.
Small decisions that only reveal themselves once you're living in the house. These are ours for this project.
One island, one piece
The kitchen benchtop is a single slab, book-matched at the waterfall end so the veining runs unbroken from the floor to the bench.
Quiet floors
An acoustic underlay sits beneath the herringbone oak, so the living areas don't carry footsteps through to the bedroom wing.
Where it stands
Braddon,
North Canberra.
- Client
- Private family
- Architect
- Ovida Studio
- Build time
- 10 months
- Delivered
- 2025
