Located in Narrabundah, a postwar suburb in Canberra’s inner south, this family home is framed by pin oaks and offers distant views of a eucalypt forest. For the owners – a builder, his wife and their young child – demolishing the existing 1950s cottage and building anew offered the opportunity to capitalise on the outlook and hero building robust, tactile materials such as precast concrete, aluminium, steel and raw brick.
Given the slope of the land – a fall of about 3 metres from the leafy street – the house reads as a single-storey dwelling to passers-by. “It’s one of the few inner-city areas that offers such undulating terrain,” says architect Ben Walker. Some find such sites too troublesome to work with, but Ben and the owners saw only opportunity.
The brief was for a fairly substantial and versatile house that would evolve along with the family’s needs. A generous home office was also important, as was a large garage that could accommodate a trailer and work ute . “One of the words that kept coming up was ‘refuge’,” says Ben. “The owners work long hours, so they wanted a place that provided peace, comfort and solitude.”
This story is from the March 2022 edition of Australian House & Garden Magazine.
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This story is from the March 2022 edition of Australian House & Garden Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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