Suspended Immersion – Riverbank House by Wilson Architects

As an embrace of its green siting and the generous slope of the landscape, Riverbank House aims to firmly embed the built within the natural. Wilson Architects utilises the motions of vertical stacking and gestures of suspension, extending a sense of immersion from multiple vantage points.

 Located in Brisbane, Riverbank House forms the story of how space is shaped by place. With their previous home lost in a fire, relocating and creating a new residence for the owners formed its own distinctive brief – they wanted their new home to be immersed within nature and embody similar but distinctively different characteristics. In its position on the edge of its namesake the riverbank, the home elevates upward to capitalise on surrounding views and create connections beyond the built elements of the home, embedding bonds with the landscape. Wilson Architects plays with ideas of memory in conjuring the resulting home, befitting and responsive of both its location and its residents.

In a statement of resilience, the use of a robust and enduring materiality becomes a protective front to the house.

Built by MCD Constructions, together with landscaping by InnovaScape, Riverbank House navigates a challenging site in parts. At its base, the home respectfully incorporates the established 80-year-old naturally occurring riverbank conditions. In a statement of resilience, the use of a robust and enduring materiality becomes a protective front to the house. In making its way across the site, the concrete ribbon wall structurally supports and defines the parameters of the home – the protective properties of concrete act as a resolve to the memory of a home previously destroyed by fire. The formal arrangement on site, and its elevation, relates to the feeling of being under a traditional Queenslander home.

While the ideas of memory are strong throughout, notions of presence are reinforced through uninterrupted visual sight lines and an opening of the exterior façade to embrace the natural landscape. Timber is used to further soften the home and add a textural layering in the process, forming quieter and passive sleeping and bathing areas on the upper floor. The same timber form then sits supported on either side by flanking concrete, suspended with clear visual access through the living level on the ground floor. Handrails are deliberately removed to then increase the feeling of suspension above the water below, openly inviting the outside into the lived experience of the home.

Timber is used to further soften the home and add a textural layering in the process, forming quieter and passive sleeping and bathing areas on the upper floor.

Wilson Architects brings together nostalgic cues by prioritising natural elements, allowing Riverbank House to embody drama through suspension and an exaggerated openness.