The size of the block on which a typical Australian suburban house is built is only half or a third of what it was forty years ago. Houses are long and narrow and many habitable room windows look directly at a fence one meter away. One corner of the layout is usually cut away to allow an "alfresco" area which is a legal minimum of unenclosed space. This proposal writes off the setback and treats it as a source of secondary light and or ventilation. All habitable room windows apart from the front bedroom face the newly created courtyard in the manner of Ralph Rapson's 1945 Case Study House #4.  An arrangement such as this is only practical in the temperate climates. 

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The house can still be lived in in the conventional manner. No relationships between rooms have been changed. However, an attempt has been made to give the garage an alternative role as additional activity space, and to also allow better use of the walled front garden.