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Issue 62 - Living in the Environment Issue

Issue 62

Living in the Environment Issue

Issue 62 is the first issue of the year and always a great time to put our best foot forward. With Adam Goodrum, the loveliest man in design, as Guest Editor, we draw on his insights as a furniture designer, artist and educator to look at the makers shaping our design world. Sustainability has never been more important, and increasingly this is a consideration from the start with projects designed to address their immediate environment as well as the longevity of the planet. From the coldest winters to the most tropical of summers, addressing how we live in the environment is crucial to creating the perfect home.

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Riverview House is anchored firmly to its ridge-top site
HomesSaskia Neacsu

Riverview House is anchored firmly to its ridge-top site

Australia

Photography

Anson Smart

Architecture

CM Studio

CM Studio has understood the weight of the site and responded with a subtle, restrained modishness.


Riverview House, conceived by CM Studio, inhabits its ridge-top site with a quiet authority. The land, with its steep contours and panoramic views, presented both constraint and opportunity. Responding to such a place requires an architecture that engages in dialogue with its surroundings while elevating the experience of the place.

The decision to amalgamate two individual dwelling lots allowed the project to unfold across an expansive site, affording the house a wealth of scale and perspective. Every room is orientated towards the view, framed through the surrounding eucalypts, their leaves shifting in the wind as light streams through. This is a residence where the outside world is an ever-present participant, always in view, yet always sabred through the surrounding vegetation.

Anchored firmly to the steep site, the house rises in a series of considered levels. Broad living platforms extend outward, integrating the interior with the land. The public areas are defined by spatial generosity, their vast volumes emphasised by double-storey voids and robust stone walls. These features — stone stacked with precision — serve as a counterpoint to the lightness of the structure and an expression of permanence, grounding the house in its context. As daylight pours through the trees, it permeates across the surfaces of these walls – an ever-changing interplay of chiaroscuro.

Related: Dialogue between old and new

In contrast to the open expanses of the public wing, the private quarters — comprising the bedrooms and library — are defined by a quieter atmosphere. A timber-lined cloister gently guides one from the public spaces to the more reflective zones of the house, where the materials soften. The lacquer of oak and hardwood, juxtaposing the rich veining of marble and stone, maximises the tactility sensibilities.

Operable sun-shading devices respond to the changing weather, adjusting to keep the interiors comfortable while minimising energy consumption. Natural ventilation ensures that the house remains naturally cool, while solar panels on the roof harness the power of the sun, generating energy for the house.

Next up: A nod to the quintessential Australian shed


About the Author

Saskia Neacsu

Tags

cm studioHome ArchitectureHouse ArchitectureInterior DesignRiverview House


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Issue 62 - Living in the Environment Issue

Issue 62

Living in the Environment Issue

Issue 62 is the first issue of the year and always a great time to put our best foot forward. With Adam Goodrum, the loveliest man in design, as Guest Editor, we draw on his insights as a furniture designer, artist and educator to look at the makers shaping our design world. Sustainability has never been more important, and increasingly this is a consideration from the start with projects designed to address their immediate environment as well as the longevity of the planet. From the coldest winters to the most tropical of summers, addressing how we live in the environment is crucial to creating the perfect home.

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