Malua Bay holiday house designed by registered architect Tina Tziallas up for NSW architecture award

But for the "clients" - her three young daughters - it was perfect.

"They just really fell in love with it and I said to them, 'Do you want us to keep looking and find a house that's a bit nicer?' and they're going, 'No, we don't want a fancy holiday house, we just want a beach shack'," Ms Tziallas said.

The family set about renovating the holiday house, first tackling the fact its layout was back to front.

"I found out that the house had been relocated to the site in the 70s," Ms Tziallas said.

"It was built in the 60s closer to the beach and then brought up on the back of a truck and put on this site in the easiest way possible, which was back to front.

"So I guess part of the work for us was to re-orientate the living areas to get sunlight right into the house, to get ventilation to the house because we had no cross-flow ventilation at all and to create a connection to the garden.

"And there is sort of a glimpse to the water through the gum trees so we wanted to capture that."

The bones of the house were retained, as was a spiral staircase which connects the two levels of the house.

"It's really kooky and takes a bit of getting used to but the kids loved it and it works quite well, so we kept that," Ms Tziallas said.

"The only real addition that we made was cantilevering the bathroom out on the eastern side, so the shower now has a view to the north and into the trees."

Over a 10-week period the two-bedroom shack was transformed into a contemporary, three-bedroom holiday home that now sleeps eight guests.

Tziallas Architects has been nominated for the project, known as My Malua, in the Australian Institute of Architects' 2022 awards in the NSW regional country division.

NSW regional country division jury chair Noel Thomson said the high quality of architectural projects in regional areas was heartening.

"These awards showcase the excellent architecture being developed in regional areas," he said.

"Buildings in regional areas help to encourage social connections in a town. As the custodians of the built environment, architects are well-placed to deliver projects that increase these bonds and lift our regional areas."

Ms Tziallas said the project was a nod to "modest architecture that makes a massive difference".

"Most people would buy a house like this and would tear it down and build a new house or extend it," she said.

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"I think it's quite nice that we've kept the essence of the house. We've worked with what we've got.

"It's a modest project and it was a very modest budget, but we actually made a substantial difference to an existing structure."

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