Framed Contrast – Cycad House by RADS

Cycad House is aptly named as an expression of the many courtyard spaces that sit framed by the brutalist architectural forms. Taking inspiration from the existing garden, RADS emphasises the contrasts between the built and the natural elements on site.

Cycad House sits to the inner north of Adelaide in the vastly developing area of Kilburn. With remnants of the past remaining and new additions popping up as the area continues to grow in popularity, an opportunity for exploration presented itself. Having both already lived on the site and with a flourishing landscape in place, the owner wanted to embrace what they had grown together with a more formalised vision. The focus needed to remain on the native elements remaining at the centre of the home, with the built form encompassing these open spaces across the site. RADS references both modernist and brutalist approaches in interweaving the proposed form with the landscape.

At the heart of the home is a sensory heightening and, through sight, smell and touch, the interior volumes can be opened generously across the site.

Built by Cavallaro Building Services, Cycad House comes together around a series of open courtyards that offer a sense of relief from the overall enclosed home. The owner wanted to bring a nostalgic nod to their own connections to life in Vietnam, specifically in how the more primary forms engaged with the natural. As a softening, the openness of the form allows a consistent connection to both ventilation and solar gains throughout the home and across the seasons, letting the home breathe. The overall blockwork approach, however, reinforces the building as its own statement, whilst adding a sense of order to the site.

Several approaches to light mitigation and control offer a sense of privacy and help to navigate the incoming sun into the interior. As a renovation and addition, the adjoining passageway between the two eras is expressed by way of a greenhouse form – open in some ways yet enclosed in others – where a warm timber expression of structure guides movement. At the heart of the home is a sensory heightening and, through sight, smell and touch, the interior volumes can be opened generously across the site. The ideal backdrop for the landscape is proposed through a mostly monochromatic palette, allowing a sense of permanence and longevity for coming chapters.

Built by Cavallaro Building Services, Cycad House comes together around a series of open courtyards that offer a sense of relief from the overall enclosed home.

Shaped by a controlled formality, Cycad House is open and interactive, yet contained within a series of connected and regular forms. RADS uses shadow and light to animate the home, offering a foundation for life to unfurl and for the landscape to flourish.