Green at Heart – Whistler Avenue by Alexander Brown Architects and Wilks Building Group

Curving lovingly around a 100-year-old oak tree, Whistler Avenue – designed by Alexander Brown Architects and built by Wilks Building Group – is a mid-century inspired home with a light footprint.

When the demolition team began work on the property at Unley Park, the direction was to level everything – except the 100-year-old oak standing proud in one corner of the property. The new home that would come up on this site, conceptualised by Alexander Brown Architects and built by Wilks Building Group, was designed to celebrate the majestic tree, embracing around its sturdy trunk in an elegant U-shape.

Sam Willcocks, who founded Wilks Building Group in 2015, knew he had a challenge on his hands when he embarked on the project.

Sam Willcocks, who founded Wilks Building Group in 2015, knew he had a challenge on his hands when he embarked on the project. With a decade of experience in the local building industry, the skilled carpenter and project manager was keenly aware that though the Whistler Avenue site was flat, it would take a considered approach to demarcate construction safety zones around the oak to ensure it stayed healthy and vital during the build and beyond. Sam and his team turned to innovative engineering and construction techniques to achieve the desired result and ensure the house and tree were in complete harmony.

With the magnificent tree safely preserved, it was on to the building itself. Wilks Building Group worked closely with the architects and interior designers throughout the design process to ensure that a sound understanding between all parties underpinned the project. As a result, strong communication, clear documentation and continuity were achieved throughout all phases of the project. From this strong collaborative foundation, Alexander Brown Architects envisioned a mid-century-inspired architectural home – a building designed to blur the lines between indoor and outdoor and to create a sense of unrivalled spaciousness through a distinctive sensory experience.

With a decade of experience in the local building industry, the skilled carpenter and project manager was keenly aware that though the Whistler Avenue site was flat, it would take a considered approach to demarcate construction safety zones around the oak to ensure it stayed healthy and vital during the build and beyond.

An understated yet elegant exterior sets the tone. A custom silvertop ash hardwood wraps the external front façade, with high-quality rendered Hebel and Colorbond matt cassette locked architectural cladding. Floating steps lead to an entryway also lined in silvertop ash, this time in natural golden tones with noticeable gum features. Stepping into the home one finds interiors that welcome the light in with incredible sight lines that link parallel arms of the building with the outdoor pool and the great branches of the ancient oak.

Wilks turned to a range of passive and active design elements, along with a range of robust and durable materials to ensure this forever home supported a minimal carbon footprint. These include floor-to-ceiling windows throughout the heart of the building, which allow winter sunlight to come flooding in, offering a panoramic view of the pool in the centre courtyard and the oak tree in the back garden beyond. An external screen added to the front exterior filters the natural light in summer, while also protecting the family’s privacy. Northern light bathes the kitchen, which has elements of silvertop ash hardwood, echoing the theme of the façade.

Wilks turned to a range of passive and active design elements, along with a range of robust and durable materials to ensure this forever home supported a minimal carbon footprint.

Inside the home, Sam drew on his expertise in carpentry to create functional and beautifully detailed mid-century inspired internal joinery features, designed to complement sections of stone and timber. A raw, polished, white concrete slab made with white oxide creates a striking effect. The distinctive salt and pepper finish grounds all the main living areas, becoming a key architectural feature of the home.

In the master suite, stone and oak veneer complement each other on the custom bedhead and dressing table. Adjoining the spacious bedroom, a bright and airy bathroom with large free-standing bath and floor mounted bath spout makes for an indulgent at-home day spa. A dusty pink Concrete Nation basin is the perfect contrast against the kit kat tiles and pure white stone bench tops.

Throughout, Alexander Brown worked with a light palette to ensure the home never feels weighed down. The furnishings and design elements add to this sense of lightness, eschewing clutter and embracing an understated, sophisticated ethos. And the green heart of this building is always the great oak tree, with nothing set up to compete.

The open plan living from the informal lounge room to the outdoor kitchen beyond means entertaining is a breeze for the family all year round. In the living room, bespoke panelling hides an entertainer’s champagne bar. The Barossa Moonscape concrete hearth and open fireplace, encased in a white linear brick wall, create an inviting space to wind down.

An outdoor kitchen area complete with BBQ and large dining table and seating from Eco Outdoor furniture is an invitation to spend time outdoors, where a custom-louvered roof housed in a spotted gum arbour throws patterns of light and shadow across the deck. A custom-made aluminium blade pool fence shapes the central courtyard pool.

As a detailed and complex project, Whistler Avenue could only be realised by the architect and the builder acting in complete synchronicity. This was supported by the collaborators’ experience working together, with Wilks Building Group having also been responsible for the construction of a modular house designed Alexander Brown Architects in the remote Australian countryside.

Born from this strong relationship, here is a forever family home that promises to embrace the oak that lives at its heart. Celebrating the great branches, the play of light and shadow through the leaves, and the way the tree will grow and evolve through the years, the building that wraps around the tree is imbued with a rare sense of movement and life.