Wurundjeri Woi
Victorian
Embedded into the landscape, ‘Ha Ha Haus’ is located in a leafy pocket of Alphington (Wurundjeri Country) where front fences are a refreshingly rare sighting.
Our client’s design brief centred around a close-knit family home which caters for frequent visitors from overseas, intergenerational living and a transient occupancy. The single storey design addresses long term ageing in place and responds to the sloping site and adjoining context.
The floor plan is a donut form surrounding a central landscaped courtyard, a place of refuge and a key design element grounded on the passive solar principles of maximising cross ventilation and northern glazing to what most would deem a challenging site with a south facing backyard.
From the footpath, the project aims to give back to the streetscape into which it is sleeved. A landscaped mound beguiles and conceals a 20,000L rainwater tank and a low lying house.
Our home’s layout allows us to be more interactive as a family. Connections with family members through windows around the courtyard, smooth flow of daily activities with lots of natural light that lifts our mood, makes us feel happier and helps us work toward our sustainability goal.
Connection with nature through large openings for fresh air, glazing where we can see the beautiful green garden and sky. This close connection with the outside environment is very calming. The house changes significantly during the year as the seasons change, creating a great rhythm expressed in colour/materials that provide calm, peaceful feeling.
Adi Atic, Design Architect
Boutsaba Vongphone, Project Architect
Meyer Consulting Engineers, Structural Engineer
Mira Martinazzo / MUD Office, Landscape Consultant
Olivier Michel / Michel Group (Aust) Pty Ltd, Building Surveyor