Madeleine Blanchfield, the young Sydney architect who has won the prestigious My Ideal House design competition, says it’s always good to have a buffer in a family home.
Speaking exclusively to the South West Voice in Macarthur after Camden MP Chris Patterson announced she had won, Ms Blanchfield said having a room with flexibility, as her winning design has, is really important these days.
“You may have an older parent who comes to live with you or you want to work from home,’’ she said.
“Having a buffer to cope with change is really good.’’
The design competition, which included $25,000 in prizemoney, was an initiative of Australian House & Garden magazine and residential property developer Mirvac, who will build the winning design house at their Crest estate, part of Gledswood Hills, just off Raby Road.
The competition attracted 81 entrants across the country, with six of them short listed for the big prize. All were present at the Crest this morning for the announcement.
The house will be auctioned for charity and Ms Blanchfield expects to return to Macarthur for that as well in the near future.
“This was a fantastic concept, and it was a huge success,’’ said Mr Patterson just before announcing the winner.
“Well done to House & Garden and Mirvac.’’
Ms Blanchfield said this was the first time she had won a design award.
“I have won some awards for houses that have already been built,’’ she told the Voice.
“But I’ve never won an award for one that hasn’t been built yet so it’s kind of the beginning not the end of the process.’’
The architect revealed that the design focused on the fact that the building site set aside for it was not large.
“Because the site is small, it was important to do something to maximize the sense of space, that made the house feel big and generous,’’ Ms Blanchfield said.
“Also the site faces west so we came up with a scheme to turn it sideways so you’re facing north.
“And it was about all the basics in design, orientation, solar access, cross ventilation, all the things you should have in a house, but done in such a way that they could be adapted to a different shaped site elsewhere.’’
Ms Blanchfield revealed that her own family and their home was part of the inspiration for the winning design.
“I have two young kids, and I was certainly thinking about what my family does and how it lives,’’ she said.
