It's 2010, and Joey Trongchittham is cautiously navigating the first year of his budding architecture and design business, Husk Architecture & Interiors.
His first project is a seemingly modest alteration and addition to a century-old workers' cottage on a small site in Hamilton.
He had been approached by young couple Claire Montague and Ben Najdecki to renovate their two-bedroom home, which sat on a compact 220-square-metre lot.
"When I started this project in 2010, neither I nor the owners knew it would take four years to complete with four kids born between us," Trongchittham says.
Nor could he predict that he would also have to his name the 2015 Residential Architecture - Houses (Alterations and Additions) award for his first project.
The NSW Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) recently launched the 2015 Architecture Awards program with the first of the regional awards announced this month in Newcastle.
Eleven architectural projects received awards or commendations across eight categories, including Husk Architecture & Interiors.
Trongchittham described it as a surreal moment when he received the award, up against well-respected and long-established names in architecture like DWP Suters and Schreiber Hamilton Architecture.
"I didn't think it was going to win because it was up against some great competition, so I didn't bother to prepare a speech," Trongchittham says sheepishly.
"When it was announced, I thought my heart was beating out of my chest and I had a grin that stretched from Merewether to Bar Beach! I didn't have much to say but I think my reaction said it all."
Trongchittham's modesty when receiving his award was reflected in the subtlety of his award-winning project.
"The house is modest, it doesn't attract attention," he explains of the Hamilton cottage.
"From the front it just looks like an unassuming cottage and you can only see the first floor addition if you really look for it.
"Once inside, the spaces slowly reveal themselves and their atmosphere is enhanced by different qualities of light."
Trongchittham started with what he describes as "a ramble of small rooms, nooks and corridors" in addressing the home
The original house has a series of haphazard additions that lacked cohesiveness and flow with the soul of the structure.
Trongchittham replanned the house around the backyard and central courtyard in evolving the two-bedroom cottage into a comfortable three-bedroom family home.
He was careful to retain the street facade of the home for surrounding sympathy in an area tightly packed with homes built to the boundary.
This space restriction also traditionally meant restriction of natural light and airflow through the homes in the area.
The home also holds a north-south orientation, which limited daylight access further to the back of the house.
Trongchittham designed a central courtyard to cultivate fresh breezes and sun-drench the centre of the home, the master bedroom, located on the upper level.
The master bedroom's bedhead and desk was constructed using locally-sourced recycled hardwood, with the joinery finished in oil for added warmth and vitality.
The bedroom includes an en suite and walk-in wardrobe, as well as views across the lush green yard.
This upper level is accessible via a hero piece - a recycled timber staircase concealed behind a translucent polycarbonate skin and consisting of the same local hardwood as the bedroom joinery.
Downstairs, a new living room, bathroom, laundry and drying room occupy the ground floor of the extension.
The combined living, dining and lounge are finished with tongue-and-groove tallowwood boards with a rebated top, filled with black sikaflex and sanded.
The tallowwood was sourced locally in Bulahdelah and is carried forth onto the back decking.
The dark tone in the floorboards is picked up in the kitchen cabinetry, constructed from satin black cabinets with a contrasting white Caesarstone quartz top.
With efficient use of custom joinery and clever use of storage and space, the delineation and definition of the spaces feels seamless despite the small lot.
"It's probably the most spatially functional and efficient house I have designed," Trongchittham says.
"This project transformed a little cottage into an inspiring family home and demonstrates that a lot can be achieved in a small space," he says.
