Fish Creek House

Fish Creek House sits firmly along a winding ridgeline on the outskirts of the small township of Fish Creek. Exposed to strong local winds and a nearby country road, the home draws a long, highly textured brickwork wall around itself in response to that position. The wall wraps the three nested black timber pavilions like a rough and coarse blanket, sheltering them as they sit on the lower wall edge and look out across the undulating coastline of Wilsons Promontory.

Pulling the three pavilions apart from one another, and away from the northern edge of the brick wall, lets sunlight slide deep into a series of sheltered and planted courtyards that give the interior spaces immediate garden and deck relationships. Inside, the palette is warm and robust: timber-lined walls, black-pigmented concrete floors and black form-ply ceilings.

Sustainability is built into the fabric. The concrete slab uses a fly-ash and waste slag blend and carries hydronic heating fed by the kitchen wood-fired oven and stove, which also boosts the solar hot-water system. Passive design captures solar gain, shelters the house from harsh winds and allows cross-flow ventilation. Some 60,000 litres of rainwater are caught and stored on site to supply the house, and all waste is treated on site through a worm-farm composting system. Materials are specified as low-VOC, and the bricks are recycled.

Completed in 2017 by Melbourne studio Edition Office, the single-level house was photographed by Ben Hosking.