Bay House

The brief — Create a multi-generational family home atop a steeply sloping site with a strong, natural connection to its rugged, rocky bushland surrounds. Allow for views from as many internal spaces as possible across soaring Eucalypts out to the distant sparkle of Sydney’s Georges River. The result — a strong, graphic, monochromatic statement mixing clean minimalist lines with the textural warmth of breeze blocks to produce a highly functional yet endearingly comfortable and supremely elegant place for living. Sitting proudly against its hilltop locale the home’s robust concrete and stacked block exterior reflects the quiet power of the surrounding Australian landscape. Inside, spaces combine elements of light and dark and smooth, clean timber surfaces against the tactility of porous cement blocks to provide a continual play on contrasts. Wellbeing is a central theme evident in both functional and emotional responses to the brief from the consideration for optimum natural light throughout every internal space to the need for passive ventilation, which also works to enhance an atmosphere of airy lightness. The mood of lightness is further emphasised by a central void, which anchors the layout, a floating staircase, and the delicate, sculptural cascade of a statement pendant light in the central atrium. The feeling — an anchored sense of utilitarian reassurance and comfort lightened by an atmosphere of peace and spacious freedom thanks to soaring ceilings, pleasing proportions and an effortless flow, which encourages the eye to travel, the mind to open and the soul to calmly centre. Photography: Chris Warnes