Description:

The client sought to construct a new home for their growing family on a sloping, tapering site on the side of a suburban valley.

The design for the home focused on the creation of a sculptural form, which when viewed from the street, challenges the perception of a traditional street-facing residential facade. The delineated box is wrapped in its entirety with a vertical screen and has the appearance of a closed-off form without windows and evokes curiosity.

Upon entering the home the internal experience completely transforms the exterior perception of the building. Light is carefully controlled to create and define spaces. The insertion of a 16 metre long skylight slices through the spine of the home, drawing in warm, natural-light even on gloomy winter days.
The forms for the building are elegantly stacked, being a carefully composed balance between the large family’s need for rooms and spaces, while maintaining a defined, sculptural feel.

The materials selected consistently feature throughout the home, but serve different functions at the front and rear. For the front façade the materials are celebrated as abstract forms for privacy, whereas at the rear they create openness and define spaces. Light and the way it is controlled and harnessed throughout the spaces at different times of day forms the essence of the home, bringing life and movement to the interior.

The resulting building features bold forms that diffuse and transform throughout the day as the spaces are used and daylight evolves into dusk, then night. Essentially a paradox is formed: it’s a rock that is transparent, in essence heavy but also seemingly light. A home that can be both appreciated for it’s successful sleek aesthetic design as much as the feelings of wellness and pleasure evoked when experiencing the architecture within.