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The ideals of holism inspired the design, in which house and landscape are interconnected.

Revisited: The Treehouse by Christine Vadasz Architect

Christine Vadasz Architect

Nestled into the hillside above Wategos Beach in Byron Bay, the home Christine Vadasz designed for her young family in 1977 was a testing ground for a holistic approach to environmental design. Almost 50 years after it was completed, it endures as an unpretentious example of architecture in equilibrium with landscape.

Residential
Sliding screens in the living zones act as movable walls to accommodate varied occupation.

First House: Avalon Beach House by Sam Crawford and Emili Fox

Sam Crawford Architects, Emili Fox Architects

Abundant enthusiasm outweighed limited experience for Sam Crawford when his sister called with an invitation to renovate a tired 1950s beach shack. Sam reflects on how this house, designed in collaboration with Emili Fox, kickstarted his career in architecture.

Residential
Honeydew by Sparks Architects.

First House: Honeydew by Sparks Architects

In the design of their own home on the Sunshine Coast, Dan and Margo Sparks relished the chance to investigate sustainable design and construction. Dan looks back on the lessons they learnt about efficient, small-scale living.

Residential
The addition reordered the relationship between the existing cottage and its garden.

Revisited: HH House by Donovan Hill, 1993

Unencumbered by convention and brimming with ambition, this remarkable addition to a Brisbane cottage is likened by its owners to “living in an artwork.”

Residential
Wright House II was one of a handful of houses designed by Boyd for artist clients in Warrandyte. Artwork: K. Stuart.

Revisited: Wright House II

Designed by Robin Boyd in 1962 to replace an earlier house that had been destroyed by bushfire, Wright House II united a robust, fire-resistant material palette with an expansive spatial language. The lovingly preserved house endures as one of Boyd’s most compelling designs.

Residential
CH2’s yellow wind turbines make a strong visual impact but struggle with uneven performance and costly repairs.

Retrospective: CH2 (2006)

Design Inc in collaboration with City of Melbourne

Melbourne’s Council House 2 has achieved celebrity “green building” status in the 16 years since its completion. On a recent site visit with Rob Adams, who oversaw the project for the City of Melbourne, Stephen Choi considered what the profession might learn from CH2’s still-evolving sustainability measures.

Commercial
Buried deep in the bush in the Sydney suburb of Castlecrag, the house is open to the landscape on all sides. Ceramic: Jo Boag

Revisited: Glass House by Bill and Ruth Lucas

Bill Lucas, Ruth Lucas, David Allen

Designed in 1957 by Bill and Ruth Lucas, the Glass House was a radical experiment in living. Elevated on its sloping Castlecrag site, the building was both a prototype for an economical structural system and a vision for life lived in the landscape.

Residential
A modular steel structure is split into two pavilions, offering shelter on an exposed coastal site.

First House: Sugar Gum House by Rob Kennon

Tasked with replacing a tumbledown but treasured Otways beach shack where he had spent his own childhood summers, Rob Kennon aspired for an efficient and elemental home that framed the rugged landscape. Twelve years on, Rob reflects on how this formative first project shaped his practice.

Residential
Located in Pretty Beach on the New South Wales Central Coast, Lobster Bay House was designed as a tranquil holiday home in the bush.

Revisited: Lobster Bay House

Ian McKay

Designed by Ian McKay for photojournalist David Moore, Lobster Bay House (1972) sustains an elemental occupation of its remarkable, rocky site. Carefully preserved over the decades, the house endures as a cherished retreat for Moore’s family.

Residential
The Fisher House, designed in 1970 by Alistair Knox, has been carefully renovated by Adriana Hanna. Artworks (L–R): Emily Ferretti, Zoe Grey.

Revisited: Fisher House

Alistair Knox and Associates, Adriana Hanna

In the bushy Melbourne suburb of Warrandyte, the modular design of Alistair Knox’s Fisher House (1970) has been sensitively updated to retain its celebration of the unique Australian light and the surrounding “sun-evolved” landscape.

Residential
A light court beside the kitchen draws in light, while glazing and mirrors extend the sense of space.

First House: Mary Residence

Drawing inspiration from the dexterously planned terraced house renovations of London, Matt Gibson’s first house spurred a passion for melding heritage elements and contemporary design that continues in his practice today.

Residential
A verdant garden is a textural counterpoint to the calm interior.

First House: Armature for a Window

In the process of designing their first house – and their own house – Anita Panov and Andrew Scott re-imagined a small and narrow terrace house as a frame for an overscaled window to the garden.

Residential
The living spaces are edged by a deep, timber bench that subtly connects the interior to the gently undulating site.

Revisited: Wilson Beach House

John Railton

Wilson Beach House on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast offers an enduring example of elegant and expressive Australian design.

Residential
Hidden behind a heritage cottage, the house presents a dramatic glass facade to the north-facing courtyard.

First House: Vincent Street House

Finn Pedersen

Sketched on a napkin, the first house of Perth architect Finn Pedersen was designed “with great bravado” and inspired by the houses of Le Corbusier and Charles and Ray Eames.

Residential
Enveloped by a broad gable roof, Porter House is designed across a split-level plan that works with the fall of the site.

Revisited: Porter House

Albert Ross

Located in Warrandyte, Victoria, Porter House launched the practice of young mid-century architect Albert Ross, who had cut his teeth working at celebrated studio Grounds, Romberg and Boyd.

Residential
Reminiscent of Japanese techniques, some windows have been replaced with screens of translucent polycarbonate.

Bushland machine: Osborne House

Richard Leplastrier

With a panorama of bush and water as its backdrop, the design for this house, built in 1995, uses materials and details reminiscent of wooden boatbuilding to immerse those who dwell there in the magic of the surrounds.

Residential
The addition’s pleated copper facade complements the tones of the existing red brick Federation house.

First house: Clare Cousins Architects

Clad in pleated copper, this addition to a Federation-era house was the first “real” commission for architect Clare Cousins, who reflects on how projects like this one went on to become a staple for the practice.

Residential
On a treed escarpment above Margaret River, the long, east–west axis of Ooi House captures and amplifies the essence of the place.

Revisited: Ooi House

Ooi House by Kerry Hill Architects is a seminal project in Australia’s modern architectural canon. Revisiting the icon more than two decades after its construction leaves the striking impression of a nuanced home inextricably bound to its site.

Residential
William adopted a modern approach to heritage in his design for the conversion, which he completed just months after finding the site.

First House: 632 Bourke

When architect William Smart found a pair of dilapidated buildings in Sydney’s Surry Hills, he immediately saw their potential and set to work designing a new home for himself and his partner and for his then burgeoning practice.

Residential
Built by hand on site, the cabin was constructed from hardy, readily available materials.

First House: Zigzag Cabin

Drew Heath Architects

Acting as a “billboard in the bush” for architecture, this colourful cabin that was completed almost twenty years ago, was a first foray into the design-build process for architect Drew Heath.

Residential
Eucalypt timber battens belie the domestic scale of the building, instead responding to the vast proportions of the landscape.

Birdsong and rain: Rosebery House revisited

Responding to a ridgeline that runs west across the gully, this Brisbane home designed by Brit Andresen and Peter O’Gorman illustrates the expressive capacity of Australian hardwood timber and creates a visceral connection to the rainforest.

Residential
Working with an experienced engineer, Andrew devised a structural timber exoskeleton.

First House: Essex House

Working with an experienced engineer, a young Andrew Maynard used his first project as a testing ground for ideas, many of which form the basis of the design fundamentals he applies today.

Residential
The single gable roof and expansive plate glass windows make for breezy interiors befitting a coastal location.

Revisited: Bridgford House 1953

Thanks to dutiful custodianship and light-handed restoration, Bridgford House, designed in 1953, is transportive. Harking back to 1950s summer vacations, the house in Black Rock, Victoria, is a testament to Good Life Modernism.

Residential
The house features tactile, honest materials, from plywood cladding to Killarney ash and concrete flooring.

First house: House Shmukler

Taking inspiration from the whimsy and rigour of artist Sol LeWitt, Tribe Studio’s inventive, sustainable first house paints a “portrait” of its clients and hints at what would become the studio’s prevailing concerns.

Residential
Revisited: Carpenter Hall House

Revisited: Carpenter Hall House

This extraordinarily creative, somewhat bewildering timber-and-tin tower on the slopes of Brisbane’s Eildon Hill has been a labour of love for more than thirty years and was declared finished by the architect Russell Hall, and the client in 2018.

Residential
When viewed from the street, the large, red front door is framed by an aedicular portal in the faux ruined garden wall.

Painterly vision: Crigan House

Allan Powell’s distinctive St Kilda home, that “reveals a Palladian strand in its lineage … a structure designed to host parties.”

Residential
Decks make the most of the views and provide shelter or sunlight at different times.

First House: 1+2 Architecture

1+2 Architecture revisits Walla Womba Guest House, the practice’s first project from 2004.

Hospitality, Residential