Balancing dynamic geometries and rigorous detailing, Moon House is bursting with playfulness and optimism yet grounded in seriousness and ambition. Its airy, voluminous curves capture our clients’ lively personalities and are a contemporary expression of the Federation neighbours, while the highly considered palette and meticulous craftsmanship create a calm, textural backdrop to life and the ever-shifting plays of light.
Ben and Laura initially engaged us to renovate their Federation-era house in Waverley in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. With a growing family and social lifestyle, their brief asked for an open, spacious ground floor where they could host family and friends. They also wanted their new home to capture the light and breeze, and have natural, organic colours and textures and a sense of flow and ease. However, with the structure and footings in a deteriorated state, we took the opportunity to start fresh and designed a new house that reflected their personalities and introduced a contemporary addition to the street.
The diverse streetscape gave us licence to be more expressive and representative of Ben and Laura’s fun and optimistic personalities. However, we still wanted to be contextual to the style and scale of the neighbouring houses: a row of small Federation houses to one side, and two boxy neoclassical houses to the other.
The façade is a dynamic interface that bridges these two architectural typologies. Three curved, zinc-clad, setback forms are a contemporary interpretation of the Federation gables, while the boxy brick volume they protrude from relates to the rectangular nature of the neoclassical houses. The curves frame the front entry, shower and main bedroom, and a planter box adds greenery to the bedroom and cascades toward the garage door. We continued the flush finish from the eaves to the ceiling liner to give the façade an even greater sense of depth. At night, with the rooms illuminated, it has a luminous halo effect.
Upon entry, there is a moment of compression horizontally and vertically. A framed view of the garden and the strong axis of brickwork draws you up the stairs, where compression gives way to expansion. Here, the dining, kitchen and living area feels far more generous than the façade suggests – its compactness is appropriately scaled for the street, while the interior is meticulously detailed to maximise the spaciousness.
Overhead, volumes and voids are interspersed to decant light into the ground floor and offer moments of connection with the private rooms upstairs: the main bathroom, hallway and study. Operable highlight glazing on the north-facing wall brings in more additional light and ventilation. Substantial joinery elements frame the various spaces within the open-plan room: the dining area sits between the utility and powder room, and the deep kitchen cabinetry and large island bench, and the living area sits to the other side of the kitchen joinery, with an immediate connection to the landscaped garden and pool.
Above the living area, the ceiling balloons into two soaring curves that have an ever-changing gradation of light as the sun shifts throughout the day. These vaults are expressed on the rear façade as being pressed into the solid brick mass – weighty and monumental; the inverse to the front façade, where they protrude from the brick– lightweight and whimsical.
A restrained palette offers a calm, textural backdrop that focuses attention on the architectural geometries and compositions and the dynamic play of light. The earthiness and tactility of limestone pavers grounds the house, while the double-height ceilings and voluminous curves are light and airy. The pavers continue from the front entry to the backyard and swimming pool, creating a continuous floor that follows the natural topography of the sloping site. The triple-bond pattern in the pavers is repeated in the bricks, creating cohesion between the two materials and surfaces.
Upstairs, the main bedroom is a half storey up to reduce the mass at the front of the house. Its large, glazed façade frames the streetscape, and the continuous eaves and lining wrap around the walls and ceiling. The ensuite window overlooks downstairs, while the shower is set in a curved alcove, where hand-glazed tiles shimmer with the light through the window. Beyond these rooms there is also a nursery, guest bedroom and bathroom, and a study with a glass wall, offering an elevated perspective of the living room.
Joyful and optimistic, considered and serious, Moon House is a unique expression of the clients, brief and site conditions. It’s a fresh and lively contribution to the street, and a calm, relaxing and happy home for Ben and Laura, and their new baby.
[JG1]Think this is a direct quote from me?
[rG2]Some of it, and I’ve condensed a few sentences/ideas. I’ve added it to the quotes section, but it can stay in here, without quote marks, as this text effectively comes from you.
