Front And Centre

The view is everything in William Dangar’s sensitive garden design for this Sydney waterfront property.

- Karen McCartney

W ith about a third of Will Dangar’s work concentrated on the edge of Sydney Harbour, it’s natural for him to think he’s seen every perfect view. Occasionally, though, he is taken by surprise, as in the case of a new house at Kirribilli. “It’s facing south, down a tight cul-de-sac, so nothing had quite prepared me for this unreal view out to Bradley’s Head, Taronga Zoo and the eastern suburbs beyond.” But a view can be a double-edged sword, he says, with careful management needed when it comes to the placement and maintenance of trees.

For this project, he worked with longstanding collaborators PopovBass, an architectural practice well known for its emphasis on materiality. “You use a simplicity of materials, you are proud of the natural materials, such as brick, concrete and timber, and then emphasise the quality of the materials by the way light hits them,” says Alex Popov.