Mawhiti –
Stevens Lawson Architects
Generously unfolding across an oceanfront clifftop on New Zealand’s Waiheke Island, Mawhiti presents a sculptural masterpiece of context and craft. Designed by Stevens Lawson Architects and reciprocating the remarkable angularity of its neighbouring inspiration – the Gateway Pavilion, also designed by Stevens Lawson – the residence is powerful in character yet sensitive to the land it inhabits.
Analog House –
Olson Kundig and Faulkner Architects
Nestled in California’s Martis Valley, within striking distance of Lake Tahoe, is an elemental dwelling perched around 1,800 metres above sea level. Jointly designed by Olson Kundig and Faulkner Architects, Analog House – situated in the mountain town of Truckee – metamorphoses throughout the year to echo its alpine surroundings
Trilogy House by –
Peter Stutchbury Architecture
Along a steep slope on a compact subdivided lot in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Trilogy House squeezes between trees and neighbours to capture views of the bay and its surroundings. It is a modest house for its context, but one with a significant architectural lineage. Peter Stutchbury Architecture sensitively negotiates geography, building and history to add the next cascade down the slope – and the next chapter to the trilogy story.
Shakespeare Grove Residence –
B.E. Architecture
Shakespeare Grove Residence weaves itself sensitively among historic heritage homes in Hawthorn, Melbourne, as a contemporary architectural offering in a richly storied precinct. Deliberately proportioning the building to lessen its visual impact, B.E. Architecture pays homage to the existing architectural typologies already in place, forging a unique sense of identity that will continue with enduring relevance.
Castlecrag Courtyard –
Downie North
Inspired by the nearby waterways and bushland, Downie North creates a home that not only exists in conversation with the surrounding landscape but also provides a sense of retreat. Defined by a gradual reveal of interior spaces, Castlecrag Courtyard eloquently encapsulates slow living.
Paperbark Bondi –
Madeleine Blanchfield Architects
Located on a prominent corner in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Paperbark Bondi by Madeleine Blanchfield Architects is an elegant and welcoming family home. Taking its name from the trees lining the street and visual cues from the existing bungalow’s heritage, the architecture deciphers a blend of humility and conviction that feels just as relevant to the Madeleine Blanchfield Architects portfolio as it does to the clients’ lifestyle and the home’s immediate context.
Orange Spring House –
Studio Esteta
Surrounded by long grass and natural rock forms, Studio Esteta’s Orange Spring House in New South Wales mimics the hillside upon which it sits. Though the geometry of the modernist-inspired structure contradicts the organic shapes at its edges, the earthy rendered finish reflects the hues of the environment, grounding this family home within its context and creating a rhythmic rapport between built form and nature.
White Rock –
Omar Gandhi
White Rock is a Corten steel-clad cubic structure perched on a hillside in the Gaspereau Valley, an agricultural community in Nova Scotia, Canada. Designed by architect Omar Gandhi as a retreat for himself, a close friend and their respective families and wider circle of friends and colleagues, it is a deeply personal project that adds a dynamic layer to his studio’s well-honed portfolio.
Terra Firma House –
Robson Rak
A place where design, materials and nature work eloquently together, Terra Firma House is calm and tranquil, offering an oasis from its inner-city context. As its name –meaning ‘on solid ground’ – suggests, the home provides a grounding experience for all who enter its walls and a refuge where the inhabitants can reconnect with both nature and self.
Robson Rak oversaw the entirely new build on a sought-after block nestled in the inner-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The original residence was a mock Victorian-style house that was demolished, gifting architect Kathryn Robson and interior designer Chris Rak with a blank canvas to craft a new home with the technology and comfort of a contemporary building.
Treetop House –
Tobias Partners
Treetop House finds meaning and inspiration in its inhabitants’ varied tastes and shared memories, with the bold, modern architectural form housing a significant collection of artefacts, antiques and artwork, reflecting a lifetime of travel and interest in the arts. Situated in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Birrabirragal and Gadigal Country, the home also captures the natural beauty of the site, with the foliage of the surrounding trees a constant presence.
Red Crest House –
Dion Keech Architects, Loopea Design Studio and Simone Haag
Red Crest House entwines the warm nostalgia and clean composition of the midcentury modern architectural style with the colourways and textures of its antipodean landscape. Coaxing into its design narrative the natural ancient beauty of the Dandenong Ranges, which cradle the home in their gentle embrace, the project is the realisation of a unified collaboration between Dion Keech Architects, Loopea Design Studio and Simone Haag.
Deans Marsh House –
Tecture
Thoughtfully conceived in relation to its context, Deans Marsh House by Tecture is grounded in a tangible sense of anticipation. Located in regional Victoria and accessed via a winding driveway, the push-pull of momentum and repose is evident in the arrival sequence as well as in the experience of the dwelling itself, resulting in a home that Tecture Director Ben Robertson dubs “quietly surprising”.
Alma Road Residence –
studiofour
In a richly considered combination of heritage preservation and contemporary interpretation, Alma Road Residence emerges as a blending of eras and contrasting elements expressed in a sensory immersion that engages the entire site. studiofour unveils the deeply emotive elegance of the original period home and binds its delicacy with a balancing of lightness through the addition of a floating glass pavilion.
Redfern House –
Anthony Gill Architects
Tucked between the terraced townhouses of an inner Sydney suburb, Redfern House by Anthony Gill Architects is a carefully considered study on living within a garden. As a refurbishment of an existing house for a landscape architect, and by way of a collaborative and iterative design process, the family home is a collection of spaces anchored around the dense and lively planting of a luscious gardenscape.
Garden House –
Zen Architects
An inspiring renovation of an existing housing estate – Mount Eagle Estate – has since retained its relevance to influence a recent renovation by Zen Architects of one of the estate’s original homes, Garden House. Zen Architects enhances the existing natural landscape and ties the garden back into the home.
The Gatehouse –
Patterson Associates Architects and Sonja Hawkins Design
Arrowtown in New Zealand’s South Island offers a landscape as captivating as the region’s aptly named mountain range – The Remarkables – suggests. Set within the undulating terrain and with views to Coronet Peak and Millbrook Resort is The Gatehouse – a dynamic residence by architecture firm Patterson Associates Architects with interiors by Sonja Hawkins Design that rises to the exemplary topography whilst being sympathetic to the surrounding rural fabric.
Quarry Hill House –
Chelsea Hing
Quarry Hill House is a contemporary family home in the regional Victorian city of Bendigo. Featuring an extensive interior fit-out by Chelsea Hing, this project demonstrates the studio’s ability to enhance the ideas embedded in the existing architecture by reimagining spatial sequences and introducing a palpable sense of energy inspired by the client’s lifestyle.
Concrete Curtain –
FGR Architects
An incongruity exists between concrete’s inherent properties and its ability to convey lightness and ethereality. Concrete Curtain – a family home in Toorak, a leafy suburb in Melbourne’s east, by FGR Architects – explores this intriguing dichotomy through a series of concrete columns that snake across its façade like as played accordion. Conceived to provide porosity and protection for its inhabitants, this curtain-like structure scrutinises concrete’s abilities, illustrating its dynamism in both form and function.
Panorama –
Edwards White Architects
Perched on a small peninsula overlooking Maramaratotara and Mercury Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand, Panorama captures the spirit of refined coastal living, outwardly connecting to its stunning natural surroundings. Edwards White Architects explores the delicate relationship between nature and architecture, carefully weaving the formal response to the site by burrowing it into the terrain with both above-ground and submerged gestures.
Macmasters Beach House –
Polly Harbison Design
A jewel of the New South Wales coastline, Macmasters Beach is a landscape defined
by its natural vegetation and pristine seascape, deeply cared for by its local community.
Here, Polly Harbison Design was tasked with creating a family retreat to function with
a utilitarian efficiency without compromising the beauty of the coastal environment.
Macmasters Beach House culminates in a celebration of the landscape with a gentle
touch on the earth and the essence of what it means to live alongside the ocean.
Arcadia Road –
Plus Minus Design
Arcadia Road is situated in Sydney’s inner suburbs, three kilometres from the city centre,
along a tree-lined street at the edge of a rocky cliff. It is a house with many idiosyncrasies,
both original and new. With care and precision, Plus Minus Design delicately negotiates
history and reality to reshape the home and extend its story.
Quarry House –
Winwood Mckenzie
Located near the edge of Northcote’s All Nations Park, a former quarry and brickworks
on Wurundjeri Country in Melbourne’s inner north, Winwood Mckenzie’s Quarry
House finds opportunity within heritage conditions to intensify connections to place,
community and the joys of everyday life. Designed as a continuity of spaces that can
adapt to the requirements of the clients’ young family, the renovation work responds to
both the need for enduring functionality and the timeless potential of honest, elemental
material selections. By prioritising uncomplicated detailing and tastefully restrained
built features, the home becomes a representation of inner urban living that can elevate
domestic and family experience.
Zed House –
RTA Studio
An art-filled home grounded in ideals of permanence and resilience, Zed House signifies the prospect of rebuilding through an examination of the past and planning ahead for the future. The expansive, single-storey, red-brick home references the original residence that was destroyed in the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, and is injected with art, nostalgia and childhood memories.