Located in Blackheath, Australia, the 'Little Black Log Cabin' is surrounded by lush natural landscape and is full of Aussie charm. Smith Architects drove both the design and the construction of the compact house, which is an expression of place and fortification. Especially recently, in order to respond to the growing need for fire protection in rural buildings, in these unknown landscape elements, ensure that a sense of conservation is formed, making it a necessary pillar of the brief.

Originally a stone cottage built circa 1900s, the workers accommodation is transformed from its prior dilapidation into a highly crafted and considered resolve. As a holistic exercise, the Smith Architects team both designed and led the build of the transformation, allowing a completing of the picture through both their own eyes and hands. As an extension of their core values, the project allowed for every element of their vision to be realised in full.

By inverting the approach, the original fabric of the home was able to be exposed internally, as an expression of time in place. Like all cabins of its era, the overall plan was rudimentary in nature, simplified and based around a modest sense of protection from the elements. Retaining both the character and history of the home was an important part of the new works, ensuring a continuity of the previous narrative. In its original state, the structure itself needed stabilising and correcting before any new works could begin. Instead of stripping the home back and rebuilding the original elements, a structural skeleton wraps the exterior, both framing and reinforcing the structure. In further ensuring the longevity of the home through this method, the exterior is then wrapped in charred timber cladding as a protective front to potential bush-fire threats.

The textural reminders of history then animate the home from within and allow a co-occupation with the more contemporary insertions. In maintaining the original home’s proportions and scale but reworking it through the instilling of a similar hand-built and crafted methodology, an extension of the past is able to be carried into the future. Through a considered and sensitive approach, Little Black Cabin emerges as an exemplar of integrating heritage within a rural location. Smith Architects comprehensively shows less really can be more.