The area we're in is just south of Newcastle. It's the Awabakal people's place and in the later 1800s
there was an incredible botanic garden here that inspired the idea of a landscape-based project,
where we had the ability to grow the landscape up around the house.
We've called it the Bunkeren,
which is a name the owners came up with because it's Danish for bunker.
It's an experiment in looking closely at all of the important things houses need to do
and trying to make them exciting and make them adventurous.
It's on this rocky edge of Australia and the idea was that the building platforms will float amongst
enclosures that are hard to tell where they start and stop.
These hanging gardens if you like and then the house can have all of the freedoms
that that gives it underneath, in terms of not very many columns and no supporting walls.
We didn't want to obsess about the views and we didn't want to obsess about
being devoted to that. We're more keen on family and landscape, so the house is
designed for quite a lot of family to gather and have quality in things that are important.
Cooking, gardening, raising young children, swimming and being in nature plus an appreciation
for local artists and furniture that the family has inherited, so it was about making a home
and that's something I learned from the Danes in this project really was the value of being able to
bring an architecture down to human scale through fittings and fixtures and lighting and furniture.
Whilst the house goes along the contour and there's different parts of it and it can look
quite big at times, the rooms are quite intimate and it's really set up just to do
as little as possible and allow the family to then inhabit with their things and their way of life.
The intent with the approach to the house was that you didn't arrive at a house so
much as a landscape, with a small part that pops up and says okay here's the entrance.
The roofs are all planted and there will be a good time probably in 10 or 20 years when that
jungle has grown up and you'll be unclear whether there's a building there or not.
We all got very excited about bunkers because we love them but then we realised well,
why do we like bunkers and is it even a good idea to do a house like a bunker?
And the list of things that the idea of an earth integrated building gave us advantages
for was quite extensive. So it's bush fiery here, it's in the middle of the forest,
and not having the risk of burning down is a pretty big relief for families. Then they
have huge storms here just south of Newcastle, so there's that quality. Plus doing a robust house
you can allow the landscape to come up and over and you don't worry about cleaning gutters and
you don't worry about mould and you don't worry about termites, no painting ever. There's a whole
list of things that are simplified despite it being more difficult to build a concrete house.
For our purposes that meant that we could support the ecosystems and the microclimates and the birds
and the natural species and support this beautiful garden environment that we'd inherited. However,
the challenge of bringing light and ventilation in was one that we were aware of and so by making
these platforms of concrete that floated, also pulling some light in from above through slots
of skylight. Although you're in the ground, half buried, you also have this feeling of elevation.
I've brought gardens into bathrooms that are lit from above
and that light and planting in a place that you think you're underground is a surprise.
Then we had this idea in the brief: the owners wanted a room that was a bit less used and a
bit more interesting. We realised that the ideal levels for the house permitted us to
make a hole in the rock. We could reveal that and make the building seem like it's grown out of it
and then shape it a little bit for a cellar.
The idea of taking the external material internally and then warming it with timber and
furniture and the beautiful Danish light fittings meant that there's then a very sparing quality,
a very mute, stand back, not really draw attention to itself quality to enable the
intimacy of space making that the Danes bring to these domestic spaces.
There really is just growing landscape and concrete and then brass and wood.
And because the architecture is similar material externally to internally,
when the doors and windows are open you're not really sure where the building begins and ends.
Such a magic climate and so we wanted to really enjoy the morning sun and the
afternoon sun in different ways, in different parts of the house, as well as being aware of
wind direction. You can open the house in different directions at different times.
The house is set up to not be the thing, the thing is the landscape.
There's something comforting about solidity and permanence and there's also something
magical about seeing the landscape growing up around it.
It brings a sense of appreciation of the quality of the land, to do something high quality
in it and then enable that landscape to thrive.
My favourite part of the house for sure is the part that's half rock and a half house.
It's just a nice reminder that we share this place with nature, we don't control it all.
We're only part of the equation and there's a lot to enjoy in the longevity of it.