House at Flat Rock

House at Flat Rock | South Coast, Australia | 2020
[Billy Maynard]

The House at Flat Rock has a primary aspect towards a National Park. Every move serves to heighten the spatial journey across the modest site. A drawn out journey from the street to the entry is via a wild meadow courtyard enclosed by a taut roof of weathered steel plate, crisply defined against the rough brick façade.

The location of the house is in a bushfire prone area precipitated a palette of masonry, concrete, hardwood and steel plate. Operable shutters to comply with bushfire regulations serve to mediate privacy, microclimate and the internal relationship to landscape.

Plays of light and darkness reveal a veil of brickwork made possible by irregular bonds and cuts. In daylight hours the building form disappears against the analogous pallet of eucalyptus –grey trunks and red resin.

The ‘L’ shaped plan provides a string of private rooms oriented toward the meadow. Bedrooms connect to the living space via an external passageway, asking the occupants to engage with the garden and elements. The experience from inside – viewed through precise deep openings containing desks, beds and storage – is one of immersion in the omnipresent garden.

Shared spaces mediate the threshold between garden and bush. The curated views from the living spaces suggest an isolated site. This serves as the background to a highly social space, within which deep daybeds inviting shelter and intimacy. The high ceiling floats on improbably thin 28mm structural beams emphasised by clerestory glazing.

Detail is specific and exacting. Prototyping and experimentation were encouraged, resulting in a complete bespoke interior: doors, joinery, fittings, furniture and structural timber. This rarefied opportunity allowed for collaboration with numerous fabricators across Australia resulting in a jewellery box like interior that contrasts against its robust exterior.