The layout of the two main living spaces can be manipulated, through the use of large timber door panels, to create either a more formal arrangement of compartmentalized living and dining spaces or a more relaxed open plan for daily living or large gatherings.
Lake Wendouree Residence
This choreographed residence is an homage to the beautiful gardens of Ballarat.
It comprises a series of pavilions located within a landscape of varied garden types - formal, public, rambling, courtyard, and kitchen gardens. The differing gardens and landscaping provide a variety of outlooks from within the house, accentuated by changing light and seasonal coloration.
This house’s centre of gravity is the kitchen and generous central courtyard. The front pavilion is constructed of brick and overgrown with deciduous ivy which changes colour with the seasons. It reinterprets the tradition of the front hedge, so evident in the character of Ballarat.
As you sit in the dining room, the topography of the site has been altered so you sink into the site with grassed berms surrounding you. Our preoccupation with the landscape manifests itself again in the front window of the main living room which traces the outline of the lake and treeline in its frame to idealise the view.
A sitting room appears as a greenhouse with glass louvers making for a warmer interior.
This house grows with its landscape and garden surrounds.
- Traditional Custodians Wadawurrung people of the Kulin Nation
- Procurement Private Commission
- Location Ballarat, Victoria
- Project Duration 2009 – 2012
- Site Area 1476 sqm
- Footprint 420 sqm
- Floor Area 720 sqm
- Sustainability ESD initiatives
...this house is an expansive and luxurious building which restores the dignity of everyday domesticity both through the beauty of the building crafts which form the stuff of the house but also through the finely honed liturgy of habitation which it imposes.
Jury Citation – IDEA Awards
The kitchen bench culminates at one end in an impressive view of the lake, at the other end a sitting room which appears as a conservatory with operable glass louvers providing a transition space between house and garden.
Materials, finishes and coatings were considered for low embodied energy and low volatile organic compounds emissions.
External materials are natural and durable and will age gracefully over time, requiring minimal maintenance.
Each pavilion has a unique material and spatial quality, accentuated by the immersive relationship to its adjacent garden.
