Responding with Conviction – Red Hill House by Inarc Architects

Nestled into and emerging from its sloping site, Red Hill House sees shards of burnished Corten steel sculpted into a coastal abode. Inarc Architects brings a refreshing boldness, unfamiliar in the setting, to the project.

Sitting more as a brutalist sculpture than a traditional work of architecture, Red Hill House is crafted from amber Corten steel formations that form the envelope of this occasional home. Located in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, the house sits within the popular Red Hill area. Its location affords its owners a unique and vast coastal view and sits on its own fifty-acre site that steeply falls away toward Port Phillip Bay. In contrast to the earth -coloured volumes on site, the adjacent blue water of the bay beacons an audience, and curated openings internally direct aspects toward the coast. Inarc Architects proposes the coastal home as a robust form, challenging the architectural response that typifies the area.

Sitting more as a brutalist sculpture than a traditional work of architecture, Red Hill House is crafted from amber Corten steel formations that form the envelope of this occasional home.

Built by Brighton Builders, Red Hill House stands as its own destination and has an inherent identity engrained within it. Its boldness, in both form and uniformity of materiality, expresses an assured sense of strength and conviction. The paddock it sits upon is defined by rows of pine windbreaking trees, with its own view of rolling hills adjacent. Its coastal condition is both harsh and ever-changing, and its strength in form is an affront to such conditions. With neighbouring properties either similar to more urban dwellings, or reflecting a typified coastal shack vernacular, Red Hill House aims to challenge both. The response instead is to create a home that has its own presence, speaks to a modern relevance and is an exciting weekend destination in itself.

Inarc Architects proposes the coastal home as a robust form, challenging the architectural response that typifies the area.

Red Hill House stands as its own destination and has an inherent identity engrained within it.

In a linear internal arrangement, all forms radiate from the central entry point, which allows for natural daylight to enter each of the rooms throughout the day and affords unique views from each space as well. Dotted throughout these volumes and openings are pockets of small landscaped elements that provide a relief amongst the overall form. Gallery-like in some ways, the home is low and long and angled to optimise its location and views of the surrounds. The deliberate uniformity of the cladding and roof structure further emphasise its presence on site as a true piece of architectural interest. On approach the seemingly solid sheets of Corten reveal themselves are being perforated, and as with many close encounters, the engagement with the materiality is heightened.

A robust internal palette of polished concrete, grey ironbark timber lining and restrained joinery elements all bring the exterior together on a tactile level. Almost in direct opposition to the concealed interiors and overall strength of form is the hidden structure anchoring this home to its base. Sixty sixteen-meter-long piles hold the home and its concrete slab floor in place. While some elements were prefabricated off-site, the seemingly-concealed structure of the end result shows true refinement.

Through experiments with form and materiality, Inarc Architects successfully brings together boldness and robustness to respond to the context of the site with conviction.