A Delicate Balance – Rye Refuge by Wolveridge Architects

Words by Bronwyn Marshall
Architecture by Wolveridge Architects
Photography by Derek Swalwell
Interior Design by Wolveridge Architects

Responding to the undulations underfoot, Rye Refuge assembles on site as a series of sand-coloured interconnected volumes, delicately balanced. Wolveridge Architects draw references to the rugged and raw surrounding context and funnel into a resolve of crisp and calm encasement.

 Amongst its natural setting, Rye Refuge sits camouflaged in its own way, delicately responding to the tonality of native flora it sits immersed within. Opening to the south, deep reveals and a considered approach to interactions with solar and wind determine how the volumes open and engage with one another. The occasional home allows its owners the opportunity to embrace the unique surrounds, while feeling contained and protected from within. Heightened details and contemporary convenience integrated throughout, ensure a continued comfort and see the residence easily found in any inner urban setting. As the forms come together across the subtly changing terrain, Wolveridge Architects wrap a matched softness in the form of a protective bushfire resilient blackbutt timber façade – deceptive in its role and yet containing the home.

As the forms come together across the subtly changing terrain, Wolveridge Architects wrap a matched softness in the form of a protective bushfire resilient blackbutt timber façade – deceptive in its role and yet containing the home.

Built by Smith Builders, Rye Refuge is a contrasting insertion in its setting. Its rectilinear forms offer a balance to the natural grasses and low-lying shrub that surround. Buffering that transition sees the integrated landscape by the owner, where large rugged boulders provide a sense of protection, and allow the softer landscape elements to grow organically in-between. The home is divided into two split levels as it follows the slope of the site, allowing for a natural delineation internally, and a hierarchy amongst the active and passive areas of the home. A home for two, added flexibility is integrated to allow for expansion as guests and family visit.

In its location, there is a responsibility to interact with the landscape lightly, both from a materiality and formal massing perspective, and also in the energy and waste generated as a result of the build, and use. As the home opens to south-facing sea views, mechanisms are put in place to capture the envied northern light and ensure the home benefits as a result. Instead of amassing a large and imposing form in place, the resulting form sees a series of narrow and linear module elements interact on site, reducing the visual impact. A similar sympathetic and sensitive approach is brought internally, with a robust polished concrete flooring underfoot and warming timber as a reference to the familiar rural language.

The home is divided into two split levels as it follows the slope of the site, allowing for a natural delineation internally, and a hierarchy amongst the active and passive areas of the home

Through its highly considered approach, Rye Refuge emerges as a calm and protective shelter in place, seeing Wolveridge Architects interpret the landscape through a refined rigor.