The clients came to us to design their house and the budget was quite constrained which was further complicated by the need to have the house designed to comply with the highest bushfire requirements.

The idea was to design a comfortable home for the very cold winters and very hot summers this site experiences. The thought of a modern ‘cozzie cabin’ was part of the brief. The use of the timber lining gave a cue to the cabin feel accentuated by the pitched ceilings internally. This is set off with the wood fire place.

The setting is quite spectacular and we wanted to frame the view of Mount Buffalo while also linking to all of the surrounding forest setting from throughout the home. The view from the ensuite (particularly the bath) is one of my favourite and provides a sense of luxury. The dark tiles in the bathroom provide a great contrast to the light from outside and frame the view outside.

The form was originally inspired by typical rural shed which led to us actually converting a new shed portal frame as the construction method to address the budget. This aesthetic is perfect for the bushfire requirements as the metal cladding is totally suitable to this aesthetic. We emptied out the end bays to provide very generous covered outdoor areas at both ends of the building. Proving solar protection in summer. The green paint in these areas offsets the dark external cladding and helps to blend views out into the environment. The central bay is also carved out with large rurally inspired sliding doors shutting off the house and indicating when the dwelling is not occupied (and providing improved fire protection by helping exclude ember attack into these areas). This central corridor links the bedroom end of the house and living end of the house and provided a view through to the forest beyond.

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