Combining Light and Earth – Layer House by Robson Rak

A coastal home without coastal views, Layer House sits nestled into its regional coastal Victorian locale, referencing local materiality and building techniques and expressing its context through form. Robson Rak combines the lightness expected from the location with a distinctive earthed quality.

Uniquely sited, Layer House takes its namesake and inspiration from the terrain upon which it sits. Located in coastal regional Victoria, the house takes occupancy on its generously sloping site directionally from north to south, which is layered with its own intriguing geological texture. The combination of limestone shelves and a series of underground caves all interweave below the surface and become the support below. Robson Rak references both its groundings with local materiality and building techniques to propose a home of contrasts. While light and seemingly aerated, the mass with which the rammed earth walls intersect with the ground offers a counterbalance to the lightness of the glazing and the integral structural supporting framing.

Uniquely sited, Layer House takes its namesake and inspiration from the terrain upon which it sits.

Imagined as a family home, internal spaces allow for large groups and communing family and friends. Less traditional in its approach, the planning is designed less around a set formality but a series of zones that allow for segregation, each with intersecting spaces for encounters. While coastal, the home does not have ocean views but rather is nestled deep into its site and surrounded by a dense blanket of native vegetation. Instead of looking outward, the focus turns inward to the deliberately located internal courtyard spaces that act as destinations and moments of curiosity beyond the building’s edge.

With any occasional home, an inherent robustness is needed to allow for multiple guests at differing times, and the absence of constant maintenance also needs to be considered. The comprising materiality speaks to these key driving principles. Made predominantly from rammed earth, timber is used for its durability and suitability for the coastal environment. Both contrasting in density and texture, the two work to offer relief from the other. A foundation of pale polished concrete flooring sets the tone for the internal spaces, where gestural insertions add colour and character. The green tiled island bench in the kitchen is both playful and welcoming, while still being ideally selected for the setting. The undercurrent of the home is one of expressed honesty and resilience.

Located in coastal regional Victoria, the house takes occupancy on its generously sloping site directionally from north to south, which is layered with its own intriguing geological texture.

Layer House is both aware of its location and of its potential. It employs sustainable principles in its double glazing, natural cross ventilation, underfloor hydronic heating and the utilisation of thermal mass for climate comfort. And, in referencing the site and the area’s appropriate techniques and materiality, a true sense of place is created and a unique identity that responds to its context emerges.

The combination of limestone shelves and a series of underground caves all interweave below the surface and become the support below.

Robson Rak references both its groundings with local materiality and building techniques to propose a home of contrasts.