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Our client was drawn to European villages and the qualities and mystique of the dwellings that defined them. Earth House is our contemporary response to their memories, imagery and dialogue, in the context of the rugged Australian coastline and without recreating inappropriate historic styles.
A harsh coastal location called for the robust construction materials that also gave a sense of performance. And as a second house, it had to be low maintenance. The result is a building constructed predominantly from local earth, which responds seamlessly to the rugged environment.
Individual modules contain separate living zones that come together to form an arc that maximises the sweeping rural and coastal panorama, bringing the outside in. Each module is connected by a feature hallway that is reminiscent of a disappearing street.
The arc of Earth House sits tangentially to a giant circular driveway lined with sculptural, deciduous trees. These encircle rolling mounds of native grass that capture the movement of the wind.
Earth House was the first of two projects with this client.
Photograpy Earl Carter
Photography Scott Newett