Our Focus series shines the spotlight on the details: the extraordinary materials, spaces, and ideas that take great projects to the next level.

In the Sydney suburb of Bondi stands a newly constructed home with a rather remarkable skylight. It’s called the Split House—and it draws its name from a glazed wedge that cuts through the home from top to bottom, making it look a bit like a cake with a single slice removed.

Goodwin Scarfone Belgiorno-Nettis had to find creative solutions to build a bright and “hyperfunctional house.”" layout="" credit="Photo by Tom Ferguson" photoUserId=""/>

When Sydney-based architecture firm, Goodwin Scarfone Belgiorno-Nettis, also known as GSBN Studio, received the brief for the single-family home in the “back blocks of Bondi,” they knew they would need to get creative to make the most of the long and narrow site.

“Squeezing four bedrooms, three bathrooms, open-plan living, and a garage on the long, narrow site was a challenge in itself,” says founding director and lead architect Henry Goodwin. “But even more challenging was finding a way to draw natural light into the center of the house.”

Referencing artist Gordon Matta-Clark’s series of “building cuts,” Goodwin came up with a site-specific solution: a wedge-shaped skylight that splits the house into two parts. “The concept was simple,” notes Goodwin. “In order to navigate the limitations of a narrow site, we took a bold approach to draw in natural light—we split the building in half.”

The “split” is actually a wedge-shaped skylight that spans nearly the entire width of the home. Goodwin explains that the “void,” as the team calls it, serves to break up “the very uninspiring, but necessary corridor linking rooms on the first floor” while flooding the central living spaces with light.

Goodwin kept the material palette light and airy. In the kitchen, gray tones reflect sunshine from the void above. " layout="" credit="Photo by Tom Ferguson" photoUserId=""/>

Because the skylight straddles the width of the angled roof, light is able to travel down the void, cascading into bedrooms and down into the ground-floor kitchen.

Referencing Gordon Matta-Clark’s “building cuts,” the Split House takes an unconventional approach to daylighting." layout="" credit="Photo by Tom Ferguson" photoUserId=""/>

The team used a complex, joinery-like approach—without use of junctions, cappings, or thresholds—to seamlessly integrate the skylight into the rest of the structure. “A perfect wedge was complicated to construct,” says Goodwin, crediting a close partnership with the builders, Heuvel Construction, for the design’s precise execution.

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Goodwin says that the sharp angles and “spirit” of the central void also wound up defining many of the architectural elements of the home—like the roof pitch, windows, and joinery. Bold and intentional, the Split House shows how a thoughtful design choice can overcome site-specific limitations.

Henry Goodwin, the team used the bold gesture of the void to create a dynamic, light-filled interior within the confines of a simple structure." layout="" credit="Courtesy GSBN Studio" photoUserId=""/>

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Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Harry Goodwin, GSBN Studio / @gsbn_studio

Builder: Heuvel Construction / @heuvelconstruction

Photographer: Tom Ferguson / @tfadtomferguson

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The Site Was Long and Narrow, So They Cut the Home in Half