Simon and Justine live on the top floor of a classic Bondi art deco apartment with their daughter Scout. Their brief was to make their apartment work as a family home by expanding onto the roof space above - an ambitious idea but modest in size.
Set on the outskirts of this historic gold mining town, our brief from Sarah and Richard is for an atavistic artist’s retreat and gallery.
Perched on a ridge overlooking Cape Byron to the east and Mount Warning to the West, our brief from Mia and Jason was for a ‘Sunrise/Sunset’ house. Their aim is to turn their parents’ traditional single dwelling block into an intergenerational family co-op for them and their two boys, Ziggy and Taro.
A postwar semi detached home reconfigured into a family compound for three generations; Tom and Carmel, Maude and Chris, Telesia and Jack.
The addition of a 19 square metre home to this small block was a tricky brief but the type that SAHA relishes - a low cost, low impact, small footprint building designed to keep a family together in the neighbourhood they grew up in. A saw tooth roof brings light and life to the space and gives a nod to the area’s industrial past.
The objective of this project is simple; turn one house into two. The existing building is a charming 1 story home surrounded by a large garden that has served Adam’s family well. Georgia and Adam need a place to raise their family and Adam’s parents Antoinette and John want to watch their grandkids grow up. As this family grows, so too the house.
SAHA is a design studio based in Sydney that is committed to realising beautiful and hardworking buildings. We seek to produce work that is tailored to the patterns of everyday life, environmentally sensitive, aesthetically refined and, ultimately, affordable- ‘the best for the most for the least’.
SAHA embraces the informality of the Australian lifestyle, both in the spaces we create, and in our approach to our office. We work closely with our clients to ensure the finished project meets their ambitions and expresses their values, while incorporating the specific conditions of each site. This combination of people and place provides the impetus for every design.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you would like to discuss a project with us, or to find out more about how we work.
SAHA is a partnership of two people, Harry Catterns and Sascha Solar-March.
Harry Catterns -
Harry studied architecture at The University of Sydney and The University of California, Berkeley. He graduated with First-class Honours as the dux of both his undergraduate and masters degrees.
Before SAHA, Harry worked in architecture office CHROFI and onsite for joiner Jeffrey Broadfiled. He has worked at The University of Sydney since 2012 where he lectures and teaches masters and undergraduate courses in communications, technologies and design. Harry also continues to work in Nepal and in remote Australia doing sanitation work for Health Habitat.
Harry is a recipient of the Sir John Sulman Prize, the Ruskin Rowe Prize for Architecture, the Ross Langdon Design for Sustainment Scholarship, the James Hartley Bibby Memorial Scholarship in Architecture, the Elizabeth Munro Prize in Architecture, the Henry J Cowan Prize in Architectural Science and the Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship.
Sascha Solar-March -
Sascha studied architecture at The University of Sydney and Technische Universität Berlin, graduating with First-class Honours. During his studies he was awarded the Bluescope Lysaght Prize, the Sunlord Perpetual Prize and the DAAD Scholarship.
Sascha has experience working at Ecoshelta on prefabricated modular building, as well as at Environa Studio for the architect Tone Wheeler. He has lectured and taught at the University of Sydney, both at masters and undergraduate level in communications, technologies and design since 2014.
Sascha also maintains parallel interests in building and construction. Since 2006 he has worked as a project manager, site foreman and carpenter on projects ranging from event installation, to residential and medium high rise construction.
Sascha and Harry are friends of over 15 years. If we’re not in the office, you might find us in the surf.