The We Ponder Home | align architecture + interiors with SAXON HALL architecture

The We Ponder Home – a visually stunning architectural project that seamlessly blends the rustic charm of Tasmania’s countryside with the timeless elegance of mid-century design. The standout feature of this home is the Tasmanian ceramic wall lights that have been handcrafted to perfection, adding a touch of sophistication to every room.

The living room, featuring an open–plan layout and a sunken lounge, is a testament to the homeowners’ passion for mid–century architecture. The rough–sawn Tasmanian Oak walls lend a natural and earthy feel to the interiors, while the strategically placed windows offer breathtaking views of the rolling hills.

The We Ponder Home is a space that inspires creativity and promotes a deep connection with nature. With its picture–perfect views of a large eucalyptus tree and an ambiance that feels like an art gallery, this architectural masterpiece is a dream come true for anyone who appreciates timeless elegance and natural beauty.

Thompson Residence | Cullinan Ivanov Partnership Pty Ltd

A new family home, perfectly situated facing due north and “buried” into the landscape. This allowed the whole whole house to be on one level. While the eastern side of the house is part of the landscape the northern ends of the pavilions rise above the ground towards the sunlight.

The entry sequence deliberately funnels and compresses the approach to the house towards a grand entry door, once opened revealing the central light–filled courtyard. The house is made up of two pavilions along the side boundaries, housing the private bedroom spaces, and connected by the public living/dining/kitchen space. This arrangement forms a central courtyard which is the focus of all the public and private spaces, and contains a swimming pool and landscaped lawns stepping down to the north.

Three Garden House | PARABOLICA

Designed to suit the lifestyle of our clients in the twilight period of their lives, and celebrate their life-long passion for gardening, the home immerses the inhabitant within nature.

The dwelling was conceived as an introspective home; one which focuses inwards with a courtyard garden at its heart. The front garden is home to native plants and trees which are in harmony with the surrounding landscape of the hills. The remaining land is populated with the many diverse plants, flowers and fruit trees that were relocated from our clients’ previous garden.

The layout of the dwelling is based on a simple, rectilinear floor plan. Circulation is wrapped around the internal courtyard which is visible through large, protected areas of glazing. A subdued material palette enhances the greenery and contributes to a peaceful and immersive experience of the home.

Taroona House | Archier

On a steep and densely forested hill overlooking Hinsby Beach, three rectangular structures assembled like tree branches that fall down the hill and pile on top of one another. Utilising prefabricated elements the main house consists of two of the ‘branches’ stacked at a right angle, with the third, an art studio, separated by an outdoor deck. Segmentation of the house allows expansion and contraction according to the number and needs of occupants, reducing conditioned floor area and thus reducing energy usage. Cantilevering forms create openings between the structures and the hillside, offering pathways for local wildlife and a concealed entry for the main house, below the upper floor. Interior spaces feature a dark timber palette amplifying the activity of the bushland surrounding the house, while the dwelling is wrapped in a prefabricated timber window system, minimising steel and maximising the connection to the powerful Derwent River.

The Boulevard | Archier

Equal parts landscape and house, The Boulevard is predominantly underground, overcoming the challenge of a steep topography by building into the hillside, concealing the structure as much as possible, and using the garden to extend the environment of the Yarra Flats into the site and mind. Entering the property via roof–top parking, winding landscape stairs and stone water feature descend through foliage to the entry hall, offering a view out over the back garden.

This project embraces a small yet efficient floorplan, decreasing the building’s impact and cost. The relationship with the surrounding garden is crucial to the house’s spacious feel, embracing, enhancing, and extending the ecosystem of the surrounding environment.
Surrounding earth offers thermal stability to the building, adding an insulative effect and improving sustainability. Connection to landscape is accentuated by extensive use of operable glass offering views between spaces and across internal courtyards.

Sweetwater House | Christopher Botterill and Jackson Clements Burrows Architects

Located in Frankston South on Bunurong Country and backing onto Narringalling (Sweetwater Creek), Sweetwater House provides flexibility and sanctuary for our family of four. Designed and built during Melbourne’s Covid lockdowns, the home reflects an inventive response to low–cost, multi–generational living while telling a story of personal and ecological renewal.
Drawing on knowledge and experience gleaned from previous mass–timber projects, the home was constructed using a prefabricated construction methodology.
Our ambition was to create a materially honest and highly sustainable home. We developed a plan arrangement that could adapt to the changing needs of two teenage children and allow for multi–generational living. The gravitational heart is an open plan living room and kitchen overlooking the creek. Encircled by tree ferns and eucalypts, the home’s warm timber palette nurtures a sense of welcome and calm.

St Kilda Residence | ADDARC

St Kilda Residence is a house designed for two with ample entertaining and living spaces capable of accommodating the extended family. Located on a prominent north facing corner allotment, with frontage to a primary road with tramlines and a quiet cul–de–sac, this inner southeastern site required a considered balance between creating street presence and scale whilst also establishing internal amenity and privacy for its occupants.

Conceptually the house is ordered around a series of enclosed or framed courtyards, each offering aspect and amenity. Robust and enduring materials are incorporated throughout, with rammed earth being the focal element. Depth and richness are created through texture and the play of light. The natural colour palette is enhanced with pale, earthy tones and subtle format and directional changes which enrich a minimalist aesthetic. Internally, refined and highly detailed objects are sleeved into the organic rammed earth walls creating a strong juxtaposition.

Shed House | Breakspear Architects

Shed House, built for a couple and their three children, is a place that harmoniously blends work and home life with landscape. The couple have a passion for making furniture and have entwined their professional and domestic life by jointly operating a fabrication/design business. Shed House provides a balance for their lifestyle by conceptualising a house over two distinct levels, arranged with deliberate adjacencies and separations. The design emphasises rationality and legibility, while introducing a central courtyard as a counterpoint that brings in the ephemeral qualities of the surrounding landscape, seasons and weather. From the imposed order, juxtaposed with natural phenomena, a liberating atmosphere is created for daily life.

Shenton Park Residence | Ross McAndrew Architect

By excavating into the existing sloping block a low-profile house was developed that provided the client with all the accommodation required without dominating the streetscape. This was particularly important given the proximity to Lake Jualbup and the site being a corner block. The main living floor of the house floats above the footpath providing privacy to the outdoor living areas while maximizing the outlook. The thin concrete canopies provide the protection needed for outdoor living at all times of the year while also enhancing the linear nature of the design.
The retaining works and landscaping have also ensured the house sits comfortably in the street without the need for a traditional fence as a barrier.
The incorporation of energy efficient glazing, heating and cooling powered by solar panels and consideration for cross-ventilation allows the home to be a comfortable environment while having a reduced environmental impact.

Shiplap House | Chenchow Little

Seventy percent of Australians live in suburban housing. This context is often overlooked in discussions related to increasing housing supply. This project, on a subdivided block half the size of its neighbours, allowed us to explore increasing suburban density without compromising amenity.

The character of the suburb has changed in recent years with exotic gardens and large masonry houses replacing the endemic planting and weatherboard fisherman’s cottages of early European settlement.

The façade of the Shiplap House is clad with white painted timber boarding to reference the materiality of the traditional fishing cottages. The openings within the façade are carefully sited to maximise and frame dramatic views over the harbour while maintaining privacy between the closely sited neighbouring houses.

Ventilation panels adjacent to each window provide cross ventilation and sun shading awnings provide a playful pattern to the façade. The house is set within a garden of endemic planting.