Perched House : Below
Hidden beneath the upper pavilion, the lower level unfolds as a contemplative retreat, responding to the sandstone base with ochre-pigmented concrete and intimate courtyards. A cutout pool, reminiscent of a natural waterhole, is embedded within the ochre courtyard floor, flanked by deep ochre boulders and native planting that echoes the material palette. The experience of descending through the oak portal along the tall stairwell, with shafts of light washing the textured walls, reveals this level in a dramatic, almost poetic gesture — a secret revealed gradually to those who inhabit the house.
This undercroft hosts a sauna in western red cedar, a steam room in matching ochre concrete, a bespoke American oak dining table, and an intimate office nestled among integrated planters. Low-level windows reveal the sandstone rock face, reinforcing a strong connection between architecture and geology. Courtyards and terraces borrow distant landscape while maintaining privacy, each space conceived as a sanctuary for contemplation, renewal, and family life.
Together with the upper pavilion, this level completes a dual personality: the house is both a light-filled, elevated street-facing presence, and a grounded, introspective retreat. The upper and lower levels are distinct in material and atmosphere, yet intimately connected through thresholds, stairs, and framed views — revealing architecture as both experience and revelation, where discovery is part of dwelling.
K Y O T O Wood
Crafted from timbers such as Hinoki and Western Red Cedar, each product in this collection embodies the essence of tranquility and harmony. These unique woods, revered for their natural oils and rich aroma, releases a soothing scent when wet, enhancing your bathing ritual and enveloping you in a sense of well-being. As the steam rises, the cedar’s fragrance transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary, promoting a deeper connection to nature and self.
The K Y O T O Wood range celebrates the principles of cleansing and restoration, emphasising the importance of ritual in our daily lives. Each piece is thoughtfully designed to encourage mindfulness, inviting you to slow down and immer se your self in the exper ience . With every drop of water, you are reminded of the gentle flow of life, the importance of self-care, and the beauty of simplicity.
Embrace the serenity of the K Y O T O Wood range and allow the warmth of cedar to wash over you, nourishing both body and spirit. In these moments of quiet reflection, embrace the restorative power of bathing, a ritual that nurtures not just the skin, but the soul.
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Water Chapel
The Tropics
Amongst the Eucalypts
Our clients sought a home of both refuge and connection—a space that might evoke the immersive experiences of camping in natures vastness that allowed for moments of solitude and communal gathering, where family and friends too could find their own space within nature’s embrace.
Steeply sloped and dense with eucalypts and casuarinas, the site is home to an abundance of native flora and fauna. Surrounded by native forest perched above a lake, the very real risk of fire define the architectural resolution.
This home is grounded, removing understory threats and fostering seamless flow paths and access to its surrounds. A permeable apron of pebbles and swales channels water and often waterfalls, around the house undeterred.
The plan breaks and twists along natures contours, creating courtyards, and outdoor pockets offering moments of solitude —to bathe in the forest or pause in shifting shade. Orientation adhering to passive solar principles, and offered protection from prevailing southerly winds.
Operable facade panels pivot and lock, unfolding the house from its protective enclosure. Floor to ceiling metal screens emerge from wall pockets as barrier to embers and fauna to create a meditative mood, while breezes and outlook are maintained ensuring seamless engagement with nature.
Sculpted by the forces of its environment, More than a place of shelter, the house is an instrument of contemplation with a profound connection to place that is not an imposition on the land, but an extension of it that invites you to experience the vastness of its landscape and sky. Its modest scale evokes a sense not of inside/outside rooms but of being elevated and belonging to a larger landscape.
A home to endure, balancing openness and refuge, lightness and permanence tells us we do not have to compromise when choosing to live amongst the eucalypts.
Barossa Hills
Perched House : Above
Perched atop the sandstone escarpment, the upper volumes present a two-storey bagged brick pavilion cantilevered over the rock below. Entry is via a steel portal or a landscaped path that bridges the sandstone shelf, leading to an oak-lined interior portal that marks the threshold between external resilience and internal warmth. The experience of arrival is intentional and measured, whether entering on foot or from the garage through a planted courtyard corridor, filtered through timber screens and clerestory shafts of light.
Inside, floors of concrete and finely crafted timber windows, alongside American oak cabinetry and doors, define the upper living spaces. Bedrooms are framed with private gardens and distant coastal vistas, while bathrooms look onto intimate courtyards, reinforcing a continuous dialogue with nature. From the cantilevered terrace, sweeping views sweep out across the coastline, only then revealing the house’s lower level — the ochre concrete pool and courtyard below remain hidden until this moment, a subtle but powerful revelation of the house’s full program.
The architecture balances weight and lightness, enclosure and exposure, offering spaces that are both contemplative and connected to landscape. It is a home of thresholds and discovery, of framed views and orchestrated experiences, a pavilion that floats above its sandstone foundation while gesturing to the life below.
Laneway House
A series of lean-tos were removed from the rear of the house, and a new living pavilion inserted across the full site width, opening generously to the terraced rear garden. The pavilion anchors a first floor addition of bedrooms, master suite and balcony, while downstairs, the original front rooms are reconfigured as a teenager’s domain with bedroom, bathroom and study huddled together.
Unlocking valuable extra space, the entry was reoriented onto the side laneway and the long corridor dissolved to expand existing rooms and curate an arrival experience via a steel-framed portal that marks the juncture between old and new.
The pavilion is camouflaged into the fence line at street level with a slim clerestory window peaking above, while the first floor addition reads as two distinct objects, fringed with tiny roof gardens. Peeled back around the entry courtyard, the new bedrooms under gabled roofs are conceived as timber lanterns, drawing in daylight and at night, emitting a warm glow through their charred cedar screens.
Inside, concrete floors are warmed with LVL pine beams and a velvety finish on brickwork and walls. External timber is durable Accoya wood, while the entry portal, its mesh screen door and all guttering is custom made in galvanised steel.
Strategic design has added less than 100 square metres of space, yet completely transformed the experience of living here, bringing sun, sky and garden outlooks inside for the first time. Robust materials will ensure its longevity, while its harnessing of natural light and ventilation helps heat and cool the house year-round without the need for air-conditioning.