Refined Restraint – March House Garden Pavilion by Source Architects

As an addition to a previous restoration of the heritage home on the same allotment, March House Garden Pavilion creates a detached destination of its own amongst a curated garden setting. Source Architects draws on an existing refinement of the home to sculpt the resulting crisp volume, heightened by restraint.

Located in central Orange, March House Garden Pavilion sits at the rear of an existing allotment, adding an alternate destination and sense of separation of function for the home. As a purpose-built series of spaces, the pavilion houses an indoor pool with open ceiling above, garage, gym, and indoor sauna. Integrated also is a separate living, kitchen and dining space, ensuring all supporting functions for separate use have been catered to. Engaged originally some years ago, Source Architects completed works on the main heritage home on the same site and through that maintained relationship, it became a natural decision for the team to delve deeper into the site, drawing on principles from the ornate home to reinterpret them in a contemporary way. The pavilion then becomes testament to an evolution of a shared crafted approach, while expanding on the amenity the home for its family.

In its elegance and restraint, the overall feels nicely balanced amongst the surrounding natural setting.

Through a close collaboration with Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture, March House Garden Pavilion is built by L-Con Building and Construction and sits immersed within the existing landscape. While the new form called for its own buffered interface between the rigid and the natural, through shared principles of rest and escape, the spaces become a retreat of their own – from both the main house and from other guests. Opening on three sides, three sides, the inserted form is cloaked in a black rendered finish, together with timber and glass, to reinforce it as a sculptural element amongst the garden. In its elegance and restraint, the overall feels nicely balanced amongst the surrounding natural setting.

Divided into stages, the pavilion was divided into two incrementally detailed phases based on need. Connecting back to the extension originally added to the heritage home, the materials are reinterpreted, while feeling like a natural extension of one another. Being separated, there is a duality that allows for both full occupation of the family and solo meditation time, both with their varying associated energies. In reinforcing a calming feel, services are all concealed, and storage is hidden to allow the focus to be on the natural – whether that be the landscape beyond or the water held within.

While the new form called for its own buffered interface between the rigid and the natural, through shared principles of rest and escape, the spaces become a retreat of their own – from both the main house and from other guests.

March House Garden Pavilion is sculpted as an enviable addition to an already detailed home. Source Architects embeds additional meaning through deliberate architecture that engages with the landscape and enriches the experience of the home.