“It has totally transformed the way we live in the house.”
Our house is a modernist house on a steep block in a conservation zone that does not get a lot of winter sun, with the added complication of a very little extra floor space left to play with, so this was a challenging brief.
A new third floor in keeping with the current house that provided a light filled sunroom and lots of deck space, as well as other alterations to make the house more functional.
Ben worked with all these variables – and us, to come up with a solution what provides a beautiful space, comprising a light filled sunroom and lovely deck spaces – which we can move around depending on the sun and time of day. It has totally transformed the way we live in the house.
— Lyn and John.
“A diligent, trustworthy and reliable architect”
Ben Gerstel designed our family home which was an original yellowy orange face brick single storey house on the high side of the street, backing onto a rock cliff. We purchased the house in the year 2000. We asked him to design a modern house comprising of 4 bedrooms, a study, including 2 bathrooms and toilet.
During the construction of the rebuild (including a 2nd storey) Ben organised weekly meetings with the builder and the various subcontractors. On a weekly basis we were briefed on the progress of construction including managing the overall financial budget. The house was built within budget and after 15 years it is still a house which we love living in.
The house was published in a magazine titled, 23 Beautiful Houses in the October / November issue in 2004.
We engaged Ben again to design a swimming pool (2 years ago) and a lift (3 years ago). He again handled all the DA applications and co-ordination with the Council to our full satisfaction.
We would recommend Ben as a diligent, trustworthy and reliable architect.
— Ute and Ron
"It was his vision and creativity that turned our dark and uninspiring ugly duckling into a light filled and dramatic family home"
It is with great pleasure that we provide this testimonial for Ben. It was his vision and creativity that turned our dark and uninspiring ugly duckling into a light filled and dramatic family home that continues to attract praise from all who see it. Ben was great to work with – practical, patient, full of ideas and more than happy to allow us to work collaboratively with him in the design process. We have no hesitation in giving him the highest recommendation and we sincerely hope we get the opportunity to work with him again.
— Howard and Michelle
