Samford House 1 - 2008

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This house is situated on a modest 600sqm block situated on the edge of a semi-rural village overlooking an adjoining bush reserve. The design plays on the notion of the house being at the transition of city/country with rendered walls (city) overlapped by the timber and zinc envelope over (bush). This overlap of city and bush is reinforced by the layering of hanging gardens and vine trellises which further blur the building into the bushland backdrop. While the exterior is robust in nature the interior is warm and rich with a reticence suitable for the housing of a large artwork collection. The L-shaped plan of the house creates a N-E facing courtyard – a hidden garden. The principle spaces of the house are constructed as the threshold between the miniature landscape of the courtyard and the expanse of the bushland. Large windows and doors disappear to seamlessly to connect the inside to outside – simultaneously intimate and grand.

The environmental design strategies included:

natural cooling by drawing air from the basement level to exhaust out of the high level motorised clerestory windows.

reverse veneer on the main level with external insulation fixed to the core filled blockwork.

sophisticated mechanical plant with heat harvesting for pool heating

10kw solar power station with both battery storage and grid interaction

45kl rainwater tank

recycled ironbark cladding