This home by Melbourne-based Wolveridge Architects creates a sense of calm thanks to a materials palette of neutral colours and natural textures. Located in Victoria near the beach, the house is built on a bowl-shape site, with the layout arranged around a set of courtyards, hence its name, Courtyard Residence. Floor-to-ceiling windows to each of the courtyards are dressed in semi-transparent curtains that billow in the breeze.
Lending architectural gravitas to the house is a rammed earth spine wall that extends through the building, broken like a perforated line and acting as both external wall at the entry and internal wall adjacent to the living room and kitchen.
“The visible nail and board formwork of the rammed earth spine wall is not only an expression of the attention and craft that has gone into the build, but also informs the imperfect and textural approach of an informal yet uncluttered interior,” says Jeremy Wolveridge.
Other materials include timber, stone floors with a tumbled edge, neutral rendered walls and handmade Japanese micro-tiles in a neutral colour in the bathroom.
A larger-size house at 350sqm, the design allows the house to be shut off thermally to reduce energy use when only part of the house is occupied. Passive solar shading takes advantage of the thermal mass in the floor during winter and excludes the hot sun in summer.
Other design decisions have also been taken to make the building as thermally efficient as possible. “Timber windows and sliding doors are not only a far superior thermally when compared with aluminium equivalents, the way in which they age and patina only further compliments this idea of a relaxed yet sophisticated home by the beach,” says Wolveridge.
The architecture excels in providing a house with generous but not expansive proportions layered with natural materials in calming neutral tones.
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I loved the rammed earth wall idea. I would suggest this to my husband in our new home. Do you have an idea what darker colors I could get?
What a great piece of article! “