Project: Warrandyte Riverside House
Architects: Adie Courtney Architect
Location: Warrandyte, Australia
Year 2017
Photographer: Tatjana Plitt
Text by Adie Courtney Architect
Warrandyte Riverside House was originally designed in the 1960’s by Architect Davis S Gordon for his family, with what we suspect, was a nod to McGlashan and Everist’s award winning Heide II of the era. The building needed much maintenance and renewal throughout when we took on the project. The bones of the home were intact but hidden under layers of incongruent alterations and refurbishment work undertaken by a series of past owners. This presented us with a challenge and desire to strip back, reveal and enhance; what we hope, was the original design intent.
Heavy Internal wall, floor and window dressings have been stripped; decorative fittings removed, covered decks demolished and the roof re-clad with an altered pitching point. Some walls and inbuilt cabinetry previously separating internal spaces have been removed, to open and connect the living areas. The Warrandyte Riverside House is now warm, light and inviting.
Interlocking linear forms step down the sloping site, with simple concrete block fin walls separating the spaces. The masonry blade walls run from inside to out, seamlessly cutting through continuous floor to ceiling walls of glass. Timber lined eaves have been re-set level and flush with the Cedar ceilings to enhance this connection. The refurbished ceiling now includes a series of geometric skylight shafts, and feature walls run throughout the building, giving the modern forms a tactile warmth.
A simple palette of honest, natural, warm and unadorned materials provides a backdrop to family life – art, gatherings, music, engagement. The grey of concrete, warmth of timbers and simple painted white surfaces are punctuated by bright colours in furnishings and artwork.
Across the rear facade a large deck has been built with a soaring roof opening the views upwards to tree canopy line. A series of options for shelter, exposure, connection is provided across the width of the outdoor terrace.
