The Clothiers Creek House overlooks the sea from its hidden mountainside site in Northern New South Wales. The site reminded the owners of places they loved in South East Asia, particularly Bali, with hills rolling down to the distant sea. They wanted to plant, and indeed to live in, a tropical garden as a retreat from their very busy urban existence in inner Sydney, and to house their extensive collection of Asian textiles, art, furniture and a large library of books.

The design employs a simple architectural language and materiality and a powerful relationship with the site and vegetation to evoke the open and natural qualities of south-east Asian architecture. Separate pavilions, arranged so that each one captures both the northern aspect and the eastern sea view, are linked by covered walkways with completely openable sliding glass walls.

The experience of the house is of a garden; solid masonry walls create privacy from the entry side, and each living space, sleeping space, bathroom or library opens to an associated court, pond, or garden.

Water bodies, both the still water of the lily pond and the moving water of the swimming pool with its horizon edge, effectively incorporate the distant sea view.

In the design of the Clothiers Creek House, form and materiality are not an end in themselves but the tools to manipulate light and space, the architecture serving to intensify and distill the natural experience of the place.

Project DetailsClient: Lillian and Ken Location: Condong Ranges, NSW Floor Area: 280 m2 Completed: 2001

Contactelizabeth.watsonbrown@architectus.com.au

AwardsAIA, QLD State House of the Year Award, 2002

Clothiers Creek House