Linked to the scenery

Designing a home on the edge of a golf course comes with prerequisites one being that it sit unobtrusively within a low landscape. Ideally, the interiors will maximise views to the golfing action, while also retaining an element of privacy. Generous, light-filled spaces are another requirement for such a lifestyle setting.

Architect Chris Wilson addressed all these elements when he was asked to design this home on a site that overlooks the final hole and adjacent lake hazard of an internationally renowned golf course.

The client wanted the home to make the most of the site with views towards the fairway and plenty of afternoon sun. In addition, the house had to sit quietly within the manicured landscape of the golf course. Wilson's response was to design a long, low residence, with a chimney and several walls introducing vertical elements that break up the horizontal emphasis of the building.

Essentially, the facade is a series of planes, recesses and reliefs drawn together to create a clean, minimalist aesthetic. These are made more dramatic by the home's solid, double-skinned exterior. The inner wall is built from 200mm-thick concrete block, and the outer wall in 100mm-thick block, with insulation sandwiched between the two. The thick walls provide ideal forms from which to sculpt architectural planes, walls of windows, niches and reveals which punctuate the facade and admit the sun and the views.

The living area takes centre stage in the home's layout and has an expansive wall of glass looking out to the rolling green on the 18th hole and a nearby artificial lake. A deep veranda with continuous eaves runs round two sides of the home, adding to the emphasis on straight lines.

"The veranda shields the open-plan interiors from excessive overhead sunlight, while letting in the late afternoon sun," says Wilson. "However, horizontal clerestory windows set above the veranda allow shafts of early afternoon sun directly into the living spaces. Controlling solar penetration was important, given the solid, thermally efficient exterior."

A gas fireplace and underfloor heating combine with the home's thermal mass and strategic solar penetration to ensure interiors are cosy all year round.

"We designed the interior with a large, open-plan living area running nearly the length of the floor plan, with the kitchen, family room and an entrance hall running off this," says the architect. "The interior spaces of the home are as pared back and sculptural as the exterior, with an accent on timber throughout to bring a sense of visual warmth."

A drop in ceiling height helps denote the family room and kitchen as ancillary spaces with a more intimate character of their own. In addition, the family room can be separated from the living area with a sliding door.

An environment suited to entertaining was another client request, and the large, open kitchen is designed to accommodate two chefs at once. The perimeter island provides a degree of separation from the living area, and also acts as a serving area when the family has guests for dinner.

The double-height entrance, on the opposite side of the house to the golf course, creates an element of drama for the home. As well as a soaring ceiling height, the view is straight ahead across the living area and out to the verdant fairway.

A set of stairs leads from this entry hall up to a library that also doubles as a circulation space for the upper floor. Two bedrooms, the master bedroom and ensuite all open off this room.

The living area's clerestory windows find an echo here, with a low-set window that looks down into the living area. A person standing in the library can look out over the veranda roof, which is finished in black gravel. The gravel provides acoustic insulation from the sounds of aircraft landing at a nearby airport, and also makes an attractive surface to look out upon.

"With the massive sliding glass doors and timber screens thrown back, most areas of the home look towards the view," says Wilson. "The residence is well set up to appreciate the ever-changing outlook at every turn."

Story by: Charles Moxham