the fetterplace house, coledale.

The site for this house originally presented as a weedy hillside, with little to define its extent and potential. Sitting hard up on the railway line, but with the spectacular Illawarra escarpment rising up behind it, the design needed to embrace the mountain while blocking, if possible, the railway line.

The form of the hill became the progenitor of the house, with the doming roof engendering a sense of protection and enclosure. The long form keeps the railway line to its narrow aspect and limits its presence, while the high windows frame the escarpment and bring in the winter sun. Where the house twists to avoid the trees it mimics the warp and curve of the scarp above.

The plan steps down the slope, allowing for informal room placement and internal layering, which fits with the nomadic and growing adult family of the clients.

The entry space and stairs link them all, with strong materials used in a dynamic embrace of welcome and movement.

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