Habitat House
The lower ceiling in the living room creates a cosy zone flanked by the wood fire and recycled bricks bagged with a German shmear. The higher ceiling in the Kitchen/Meals zone adjacent creates a bright airy and energising space bathed in natural light from the highlight windows to the north and cooling breezes from the south.
We are surrounded by native bird noise sand habitat, and the continual sound of running water from our living-water swimming pool. The magic of the outside seamlessly connects with living inside our pavilion-style addition.
Our high ceilings and huge picture windows enable us to view the ever-changing elements - the sun, shadows, rain, clouds, and stars. It is our family’s own private utopia enabling us to all interact and engage, work and study, and entertain our friends and family."
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Habitat house is an extension that embraces the energy on its site and connects it’s family with the natural environment.
Habitat house is an extension that embraces the energy on its site and connects it’s family with the natural environment.
The owners wanted an extension to their existing double-fronted heritage Edwardian house to provide more space for their growing family of four. In their brief they said they wanted it to feel like a ‘garden pavilion.’
The garden didn’t have to be big, but they wanted it to feel connected to the house.
They also wanted to have a natural pool.
They wanted it to be energy efficient, all-electric and environmentally responsible in the sourcing of materials.
Our clients were keen to have a single storey house which would be more cost-effective than two-storey but the difficulty with single storey is that the footprint can be bigger which compromises the garden. So the main challenge was to, on a single level, provide all of the spaces required by a family of four (3 bedrooms, living/meals/kitchen, lounge, a second living room, work from home space and guest bedroom for family visiting from interstate and overseas) while still integrating with a decent sized beautiful natural garden.
The key solution is the flexible and openable spaces that allow the relatively compact house to expand and contract internally and externally. The L-shaped Living/Kitchen/Meals space is connected to a flexible Second Living/Guest bedroom/work from home space that can be completely open (most of the time) or occasionally closed with corner sliding doors to enable a guest sleeping or a zoom meeting. Having one room performing many functions enabled us to keep the footprint compact and not compromise the garden space.
Meanwhile external sliding doors open the living spaces up to the back yard and pool, so that the inside and outside share from each other and embraces the garden. The angle of the L-shaped floorplan accentuates this connection, creating a forced perspective that brings the garden visually right into the house.
A key element of the house is the angled sliding doors that open the interior to the garden, with doors completely disappearing into a cavity to really unite inside and out. While the addition is quite compact, the ability to open right up to the garden allows the home to feel so much larger, essentially having the backyard feel a part of your interior.
Another key element is the change in roof levels. The lower ceiling in the living room creates a cosy zone flanked by the wood fire and recycled bricks bagged with a German shmear. The higher ceiling in the Kitchen/Meals zone adjacent creates a bright airy and energising space bathed in natural light from the highlight windows to the north and cooling breezes from the south.
The standout feature in the garden is the natural pool designed by Sam Cox Landscapes and Natural pools Australia that uses no chemicals, instead using a biofilter and complements the existing trees and new native foliage that attracts native wildlife.
