A Central Focus – House with a Hole by Aileen Sage

Taking cues from its surrounding context, House with a Hole sees the vertical stacking of a distinctive brief around a central courtyard void, generously carved through the entire form. Aileen Sage draws on the surrounding vernacular, proposing a home that connects with the familiar and injects the unexpected through its own unique lens.

In its coastal milieu of Narooma, House with a Hole sits appropriately and sensitively amongst the surrounding and existing character of the area. Its simplified and familiar coastal form speaks to a known lineage and of an expected dwelling within its place. However, as a new build, its brief takes a less than expected turn as it essentially carves two homes within the one form, allowing for a potential carer to take residency on the ground floor level in the years to come. Needing a circular flow of movement, the rooms are interconnected around a central courtyard space, which acts as a void through the home. Aileen Sage combines a playful use of colour with a unique design solution to ensure a respectful proposition in place, simultaneously incorporating elements of the homeowner’s own personality.

The carving of a central courtyard void creates a focal circulation centre while also penetrating the overall form to ensure natural light and ventilation can reach deep into the home.

House with a Hole sits within walking distance from the beach on a sloping site, requiring the form to burrow its side into the terrain. Built by Smith and Primmer, the lower level houses a series of rooms that allow for a self-contained home – the upper level also contains the required elements for its own self-sufficiency. With operable windows and outward openings, the structure can open fully to maintain a dialogue with its coastal setting, naturally cooling and allowing the sea breeze to connect the home to place.

The green and blue coloured hole inserted within the home is both visible from the street and from within the structure itself. The tonality acts as a reflection of the sky and nearby ocean, becoming a conduit to extend both into the home itself and connect beyond its bounding walls. Looking out over to nearby Montague Island, the large rooftop terrace reinforces an open connection to the sea through visual sightlines, while the generous overhang acts as a nod to the nearby lighthouse keeper’s cottage. The internal open volumes are expressed through a series of vaulted ceilings, drawing the eye upward and increasing a sense of scale, while the external cladding in fibro sheeting connects back to the architectural language of coastal abodes in the area.

The green and blue coloured hole inserted within the home is both visible from the street and from within the structure itself.

The carving of a central courtyard void creates a focal circulation centre while also penetrating the overall form to ensure natural light and ventilation can reach deep into the home. House with a Hole inserts itself intuitively in its location through a respectful approach, seeing Aileen Sage openly connect the structure to its surrounds.