The Sydney-based firm TRIAS designed this single-level house-and-studio project, breaking it up into three pieces, hence its name, and skewing the volumes to follow the site’s boundaries. Because of flood controls, the house sits on a platform made with brick salvaged from the bungalow that previously stood on the site. So the base, besides being functional, plays a part in saving material and also imbues the new residence with history: “the new home rests upon the bones of the building before it.”

The fragmentation into three parts results in the formation of four outdoor spaces, each with a character of its own. One of the yards is more public and extroverted, another is more private, the north court is a covered garden, and the fourth exterior, on the south and facing the river, is a spot for chatting with neighbors and watching boats sail by.

Two of the pieces, connected by a gallery, make up the main house, one containing the day zone and the other the night zone. The clients stipulated compact proportions for the rooms, but high ceilings and carefully cropped windows compensate for this. The third volume is a small guesthouse, giving guests their own space and privacy.