Yarra House in Melbourne, Australia

June 05, 2010 Category: House, Residential

Located in Melbourne, Australia, Yarra House was designed by leeton pointon architects pty ltd. The house celebrates modern Australian family life – a generosity of space without ostentation that is both practical and serviceable. This house is a carefully considered response to a very steep site. The site has Heritage controls and a flood plain overlay. The house is set down low on the site connecting it to its landscaped context.

The house is understated from the street with ‘mute’ gently sloping roughly rendered parapet walls and a curved concrete roof. These elements almost look like the remains of an archeological dig that have been weathered by the forces of nature. This conscious act gives the house an elemental, handmade almost ‘archaic’ feel that lies outside the boundaries of an ‘architectural style’. The floor plan is an outstretched arm with a double storey off-form concrete wall and circular stair acting as the pivot and allowing zoning.

A seamless flow of spaces each relating to the whole yet with an individuality was expressed through the careful balance of scale and selection of materials, finishes, lighting, acoustics, furnishings & artworks. The palette is natural and subtle in respect for materiality with an emphasis on the ‘handcrafted’. This project makes a contribution to residential architecture through a refined function and approach to materiality. The scale, references and craftsmanship are a considered response to contextual subtlety and the broader urban design context associated with the historic character of the site.

Yarra House by leeton pointon architects pty ltd