“Think of it as part fortress, part flying machine.” “How interesting,” they respond, “but what was it BEFORE?” “There’s no ‘BEFORE,” I say, “it’s all new.”

This three-bedroom family house was built mostly by the architect and his sons on a derelict property in a back lane, in an inner-city neighbourhood. • It was designed for a changeable future, and already it’s two apartments and a second redivision of space is about to take place. • The first of the new laneway houses, it uses a tiny lot of waste land and takes advantage of existing city services. • It’s designed to maximize sunlight and solar heat and, for economy, it uses conventional materials in unusual ways – inside and out, sidewalk grilles allow sun and air to penetrate. • It’s compact, but high spaces and a walled garden with a fish pond at living room level make it seem more generous. • The basement has a glass wall opening to a lower garden, so that it becomes livable space. • It makes powerful, but not literal, references to the stable, five-bay, Georgian ideal, to its heroes Berlage and Eames, to the protective strength of armoured helmets, and to the idyll of forest bathing. • It is firmly rooted – it’s mass close to the ground, lighter steel and glass above.

Jeff Stinson