The clients, a retired couple of empty-nesters, approached us about creating a home that would accommodate and showcase a collection of their most treasured belongings—furniture, artworks and artefacts—and give them a new sense of place.
They had a quiet block in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs with some well-established trees and beautiful vistas down through the valley towards Double Bay.
The topography of the site drops away sharply from the street and, early in our discussions with the clients, the idea formed about ‘living in the trees’ and the concept for an ‘upside down’ house emerged, in which the living spaces would be located at street level, elevated in amongst the canopies and the sleeping areas would be below, nestled into the garden. Whilst initially a little unorthodox, as the project evolved, this idea proved to be a logical choice for their lifestyle.
Functionally, this idea developed into a simple arrangement of two two-storey pavilions in which the front pavilion, addressing the street, contains the garage and entry on the upper level and an artist’s studio and accommodation for guests and grandchildren below. And the rear pavilion, addressing the garden, treetops and district views, contains the living and entertaining areas on the upper level, and the main bedroom suite and a library below.
Delicately linking the two, oriented north and setback from the northern boundary within a courtyard garden, a double height glazed volume contains a sculptural concrete stair, and captures the arc of the sun flooding the home with daylight and winter warmth.
The living and dining areas are open plan, with the kitchen screened by a free-standing joinery wall, all arranged within a single volume. A battened, undulating, ceiling floats above the space connecting the three ‘zones’ whilst providing a distinct feeling to each—dropping to create a more intimate feel above the central dining table, and lifting at either end to create a more dramatic experience over the kitchen and living area. High level clerestory windows and an oversized skylight draw in an abundance of light from above and large openings frame verdant outlooks into treetops, over adjacent heritage gardens, and down over the valley beyond. A system of sliding panels and a heavy timber handrail enable the space to be opened up into the canopies.
The concrete structure exudes a serene atmosphere, whilst blackbutt joinery provides a rich and textural complement—a shift in direction introduced at an early stage by Project Architect, Natalie Condon in response to the clients’ love of Australiana—a decision we feel contributes significantly to the success of the project.
Natalie was involved in the development of the design from an early stage and took charge of the day to day running of the project, from developing details to issuing of drawings ensuring the team on site had all the information they needed to execute works with precision.
I’ve worked closely with Bellevarde’s Daniele Feltracco on three significant projects in recent years. Over that time, you come to know what to expect of each other and what each other needs in order to achieve the desired results. He seems to have an innate understanding of how architects think, and works hard to instil the same intuition in his team. Daniele’s attention to detail is second to none and there are few I’ve worked with who work as hard as he does to ensure things are done right.
A case in point—the sculptural staircase—concrete treads cantilevered from a central ‘fin’ wall delicately supported at a single point—the construction of which was an intricate process to say the least. A lot of the research and development came through Daniele, and his experience in developing the best way in which to achieve our vision was invaluable to the quality of the outcome.
This was the pattern throughout the construction process, especially the concrete pours. Daniele would go through everything, looking at it from our perspective—the control joints, the formboard set-outs, the rebates—to ensure the concrete would be expressed aesthetically, exactly how we wanted.
Most importantly, the clients are very happy. On each occasion that we’ve been back, they are incredibly positive about their new home and complimentary of Tobias Partners and Bellevarde. Things were well organised and ran smoothly. It’s so nice to get that feedback and to see the way the owners have settled into their new home and made it their own. It makes all the hard work so worthwhile.
When you’re ‘in the trenches’, things can get somewhat overwhelming, but a few months after it’s finished it’s great to come back and get to really appreciate all of the hard work. Myself, Natalie, and the rest of the Tobias Partners team are really happy with the outcome. Another enjoyable collaboration, resulting in another remarkable home.
