Bird Rock Residence

Winner

New Residential Buildings ($500,000 to $750,000)

BIRD ROCK RESIDENCE

Designer: Benjamin Mulholland

Practice: The Little Brick Studio

Web: littlebrickstudio.com.au

Photographer: BWRM Mornington Peninsula

DESIGN

Located in Mount Martha, Victoria, this new home produced by Mornington Peninsula based designers The Little Brick Studio, presents itself as two distinct light filled gabled forms connected via a small glazed entrance.

Aside from its practicality in bringing light and ventilation into the home, the ‘H’ shape helps to bring a sense of the nature into the house, with established Olive trees planted between the two gables and able to be viewed throughout the home. The external cladding of western red cedar, left in its natural state to weather and silver off, is broken up with carefully articulated openings to capture the natural surroundings.

Energy efficiency has been achieved through materials used and the form of the building. The shallowness of each wing allows the sun to creep over the floor in winter, warming the concrete slab and providing thermal mass, contributing passive evening heating in winter and summer, whilst in summer the building form helps to create shade from midday summer sun. The house features an airtight building wrap which pair with the sustainable ventilation system to create a warm quiet healthy home.

Simple strategies give surprising results with this confident, striking family home centred around a courtyard. A beautifully orchestrated series of spaces, all brought to life with a surrounding nature based theatrical quality.