Garden House

Garden House | Inverloch, Australia | 2020
[Placement + Nest Architects]

The brief was to create a home for the family that nestled in the landscape. Their previous home designed by Ian Perkins was located in a large property that provided a lot of privacy and calm, and this relocation to a smaller suburban coastal block meant a readjustment to closer quarters. Being fond of the coastal life, they wanted to maintain that feeling of lightness and stillness in their new environment – a place where they could grow old in, closer to friends and family.

The vision from a family dynamic point of view was to create a home for a family that could grow and shrink as required. At the time the 3 kids were at an age where they would be living at home, but the home needed to be adaptable for the coming future where most bedrooms would be empty for most of the year. This intent fed into how the plan was resolved, creating a bedroom wing that could be either blocked off for privacy or as a future air BnB.

The vision from an architectural perspective was to create a building that used the tectonics of the materials to create intimate views, as well as highlighting structure as a feature of the house. In order to create a sense of privacy and calm that the clients wanted to retain from their previous home, the large brick walls extending beyond the perimeter of the house were used as a way to frame views. The feeling of openness was achieved by maintaining a highlight level of glazing throughout.

The house plays with mass to frame views and recreate the privacy of the client’s previous home. The projection of two masses, the base and the roof, is broken up by a continuous expanse of glazing. It provides a delicate expression to the otherwise heavy tectonics of the house. White brick provides further lightness to the solid masonry, while spotted gum timber emits a sense of warmth. The external fascia colour was originally specified to match the brick, however as the project neared completion, the clients had a strong desire for a green fascia. This colour ties in perfectly with the thriving garden surrounds. Text description by the architects.