Set in the heart of Port Melbourne, the focus of this beautiful home design was on solving the issue of lack of sunlight typical of south-facing terrace houses whilst eating a verdant courtyard garden outlook with seamless transition from inside to outside. We needed to add a first floor and extend the footprint slightly - with the aim of not just preventing further blocking of north sunlight, but to actually dramatically improve the north daylight flooding into the house. Through careful design testing, we pushed the first floor form back slightly and introduced a double-height space with feature skylight that allows patches of sunlight to fall onto the floor and deck below. Further careful linear incisions bring a slice of eastern light into the heart of the home, and a split-level roof at first floor brings afternoon light into the open stairwell and into the spaces below.