Farmborough Heights | Dharawal Country
On the foothills of Mt Keira, overlooking Lake Illawarra, in the embrace of the weather making Illawarra escarpment.
A family home with the brief expanded to include an interlocking series of variously scaled spaces for frequent gatherings of the large extended family.
Closely connected to the earth, in part embedded. Sunken courtyards puncture the volume of the house, admitting winter sun, providing privacy, and folding landscape inwards.
Topped by a strong horizontal roof plane, an imagined geological stratum - ancient and eroded. This waffle slab construction is efficient, it enables large overhangs, and openings become skylights to illuminate the moody interior.
An extensive garden covers the roof, making the building more of the earth than apart from it, with all the thermal benefits this brings. Through this, a veiled upper level mezzanine room emerges, offering connection to the broader landscape.
The interior is simply finished in local hardwoods, contrasting to the mass of the concrete, and accented with the shadowy gleam of metal fittings.
A home for the family and their family, over generations ahead. A place to connect the life within to the landscape beyond.
Project team
Brent Dunn, Katharina Hendel, Daniel Rivers, Emma Gaal
Under construction, Owner Builder