Sunnybanks House by Core Collective Architects

Sunnybanks House is a special modern house that was designed for a retired couple in Australia that create a home allows the owners live in, connect with the land, to watch the weather and the stars, and to accommodate visiting family members.

Architect: Core Collective Architects
Location: Middleton, Tasmania, Australia
Completed: 2016
Team: Ryan Strating, Chris Clinton, Emily Ouston
Photography: Adam Gibson Photographer , Ryan Stating

From the architects: We found our clients the perfect site, located on a gentle hill oriented to the north for the sun and the views of the D'entrecasteaux Chanel. We wanted the house to sit with the contours of the hill, nestling into the bank and opening up its long north-facing side to the panoramic views and warming sunshine.

Our client’s have a beautiful collection of furniture, artworks, literature and music. We wanted the house to be a quiet backdrop to all of these beauties, so we selected a simple material pallete of concrete, steel, lime rendered masonry and Tasmanian timbers.

Knowing that this part of Tasmania can experience wild weather throughout the year, we built in a sheltered outdoor entertaining area, covered by a roof and with an outdoor fireplace to keep warm by. The house is 9 Star energy rated, and uses the warmth of the sun, storing it in the insulated floor and walls, for gradual release throughout the day and night. Our clients were thrilled to discover they could comfortably walk around bare-foot in the depths of winter, with no need to turn the heaters on!

As always, we were very involved during construction. We like to work with the builder and tradespeople to refine the designs together. At Sunnybanks house, there was a range of custom steel items, including the landscape screening and internal storage shelving. Our steel fabricator welcomed us into his workshop to refine the details together. We designed a large outdoor copper light fitting and had a studio working-bee to install the light on site.

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