No. 66
Within a leafy inner suburban context this new home for a young family inhabits a long narrow allotment. Grading down from the street the site looks toward the eighth green of a private golf course bordering onto the Yarra River.
The street frontage and visible length of the home appears quite impenetrable. The exterior a composition of greys; blockwork, concrete and render with sparingly located black highlights. Windows have been sparsely arranged, limited to small repeat squares and tall slots located at junction moments. Openings are pushed into the exterior face, creating a depth to the façade, a heaviness to its materiality. The homes more substantial openings are oriented privately, inwardly; on itself framing views onto courtyard spaces, light wells and roof lights, and, along with the narrow lower end of the building opening up towards the manicured greens and fairways of the golf course.
Beginning with a long-galvanised steel grate entrance stair that hovers amongst native grasses in a courtyard the home unfolds as a series of sequiential spaces that break off into separate levels and slowly step down the site. A continuous rammed earth wall constructed from recycled concrete runs along the length of the building. This heavy, robust, and thick wall grounds the palette of equally raw materials that appear throughout; concrete, black battens, charcoaled timber, textured greys, crisp whites, and steel, are the primary surfaces with select moments of neutral timbers and softer woven textures in the furnishing selections that bring warmth into the home.
A series of tall pivot doors open a generous wolume of living space onto an enclosed deck of heavy boardwalk timbers. This space drops off at its edge to an infinity pool that reflect the sky and tree canopies of the golf course beyond. A simple water feature spout from the decking constantly trickles water rippling the pools surface and creating an ambient peaceful background sound.
Along kitchen and dining space borders onto glass that slides away onto a minimal entertaining space in the courtyard equipped for outdoor cooking and entertaining. Above this runs an 8m bridge linking the upper level entrance area to the main bedroom space. Secluded, quiet, and calming, Its elevated view is framed by a foreground of green roof, grasses and flowers offering privacy from morning golfers. An in-situ concrete perimeter to the bed forms side tables warmed by the hydronic heating inside rendering the concrete pleasant and almost soft to touch.
