Light is used as a material in Anderson Residence, a once-dark 1960s townhouse opened to the sky. One of the big moves is a new glazed wall in the stairwell, which allows daylight to fall from the first-floor skylight into the centre of the home. White walls and oak floors keep the envelope pared back, while an open plan draws long views across the compact site, so every square metre is put to work.

Minimal white joinery recedes with a sense of calm, coupled with black metal elements and full-height bronze mirrored walls that double the light to stretch the sense of space. Artwork and colourful furniture add a layer of personality, vivid against the quiet backdrop. Operable windows pull breezes through, so the house breathes easily without leaning on air conditioning.

The bathrooms are the most indulgent spaces: a shower wrapped floor to ceiling in warm natural stone sits beneath its own skylight, and in the ensuite a built-in bath is shrouded in a Viola figured marble. Bright where it was once dim, the townhouse feels both restrained and richly lived in.