Sensitive Honesty – Sprout House by Barnacle Studio
Based on a square module interlocking across the site, Sprout House sits comfortably surrounded by dense native vegetation, clad to assume a backseat amongst the landscape. Barnacle Studio delicately inserts the new form as a considered element to interact with its context, expressing its structural composition.
Separated from any neighbours in its removed setting, Sprout House burrows itself into its sloping site in Coledale along the New South Wales coastline. Out of fascination and respect for the surrounding natural elements, the proposal sits sensitively amongst the landscape, the insertion balancing a weighted base with lighter elements. The planning takes form through establishing a 3.6 metre square module, ensuring efficiencies are achieved through repetition and the creation of a rhythm on site. With architecture by Barnacle Studio and interior design in collaboration with Emma Rutherford, the resulting home combines personality and simplicity.
Built by Greensmith & Co., Sprout House is clad in metal sheeting that matches the tones of the surrounding ironbark trunks. The darkened palette ensures a sense of submission in place, whilst a boldness and a dramatic sloping roofline adds a sculptural quality to the overall form. The nearby granite found in the escarpment also influences the palette, where similar hues are brought inward. There is a playful quality to the interior that reflects its owners, as well as a curiosity that matches a sense of discovery in being in such a removed location. The combination of pastel tones adds elements of the unexpected while the warmth of the brickwork adds a familiarity and earthed quality.
Expressing its composition, structural members are left exposed as linear elements on the exterior of the home, highlighting how the rudiments come together. There is a refreshing honesty in leaving these parts uncovered, matching a rawness of the landscape and the casual nature of the location. The robust encasing shell of the home ensures the experience of being within and looking out is a protective one, where the conveniences of urban life are maintained and not compromised in any way. The transition from the darker outer casing into a lighter and more inviting interior is a deliberate journey of its own, changing the environment in an intentional way.
The transition from the darker outer casing into a lighter and more inviting interior is a deliberate journey of its own, changing the environment in an intentional way.
