Outward Redirection - The Seat House by Atlas Architects

Reorienting the home to make the most of its enviable surrounds, The Seat House ensures a direct connection to place by opening to capture outward views. Atlas Architects aim to blur the lines between inside and out, creating a cohesive and functioning family home that is able to expand and retract as needed.

Settled on the Mornington Peninsula, the existing 1980s-era farmhouse lacked a connection to the surrounding context. With the existing home void of a link to the outdoors despite being immersed within the landscape, its brown-bricked presence needed revitalisation. The transformation of the home saw both the retention of elements unique and responsive to the site and the inclusion of modern additions to enhance the home’s location. Atlas Architects extrude the existing rural vernacular in their approach, stretching out the existing silhouettes already on site and overlaying a modern sensibility.

Atlas Architects extrude the existing rural vernacular in their approach, stretching out the existing silhouettes already on site and overlaying a modern sensibility.

While the new form sits to the western edge of the main structure, its careful orchestration of overhanging eaves and bluestone flooring works to optimise the home’s orientation, capturing solar gains during winter and deflecting them in summer. Through a mix of tones, the home’s interior feels intimate yet connected to the surrounding environment. By carrying the uniquely patterned bluestone flooring across both indoor and outdoor spaces, a connection to the natural surrounds is reinforced and introduced to the lived experience.

Wanting to ensure an ease of flow beyond the built edge of the home, large glazing and operable façade elements facilitate ventilation and encourage an engagement with the landscape. Dedicated outdoor rooms are created surrounding the main form to allow for socialising, play and retreat. As a reference to place, the lining board that runs along the interior of the home connects to the materiality of the area, while the peaked forms of the home connect to the traditional farm buildings. Deliberately dark, the overall form recedes into the landscape to convey an appreciation of the location.

Deliberately dark, the overall form recedes into the landscape to convey an appreciation of the location.

Suggested by its positioning, The Seat House is aptly named as an idyllic place to truly immerse oneself within the surrounds. Atlas Architects transforms a tired and disconnected home into a true destination of its own.