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Architects: Ben Lance Architects
- Area: 320 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Josh Farmelo
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Manufacturers: AWS, Anibou, Artemide, Brayco Stainless Steel, Classicon, Lysaght, OLIVARI, Plyco, Vola, Yarrabee & Castlemaine Stone
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Lead Architect: Ben Lance
Text description provided by the architects. The house sits at the foot of Mount Macedon on an acre block one hour north of Melbourne. The vacant site presented an opportunity for a simple cost-effective building form with a long glazed north facade with a deep eave to control sunlight and view the garden and mountain in the distance. The house sits close to the south boundary to maximize the garden space with a predominantly solid south facade for privacy from the street.
The large pitched roof and corrugated steel roofing and cladding reference vernacular buildings and the original surrounding houses while a row of pin oak trees were planted along the northern edge of the site inspired by those lining the Avenue nearby. There are two circulation paths - for the owner from the car parking area into the private part of the house and for guests through the main entrance into the public part of the house.
The house is divided in half into public and private, defined by granite and timber flooring respectively, and separated by a sliding panel. A sliding panel also closes the main bedroom from the rest of the house when required. The floor levels step down from the private to public spaces as the site falls from west to east to create a direct relationship between internal spaces and the garden and appropriate ceiling heights for each room, while the northern edge of the concrete slab remains at the highest level and becomes a seat as the floor levels drop.
The house is lined with gaboon plywood for warmth in the cool climate and designed around the owner’s furniture and the tile grid that aligns with joinery, wall and ceiling lining, and glazing. The house is used as a single space by the owner that can be partitioned when the family comes to stay with the wide horizontal north view and protection of the solid wall to the south intended to make for a calm and comforting space.
