Cuttagee

Cuttagee New South Wales, Australia

Located on the South Coast of NSW, the remote site of Cuttagee House sits amongst ancient trees, lush ground cover and warm light that filters constantly through the towering tree canopy. The steep, sloping site is a fragment of a much larger mountain range that collides with the South Pacific Ocean. The intensity of this natural condition shapes a considered architectural response, grounded in weight, tactility and light.

Designed as a family refuge for a busy young family based in Sydney, the house features intimate sleeping spaces configured as compact suites with wall-to-wall beds and frameless glass outlooks. This compaction of sleeping spaces is juxtaposed against the larger communal internal and external entertainment spaces, allowing a sense of compression and expansion, openness and intimacy.

The ground level comprises a courtyard and pool, a sheltered refuge from which to take in the surrounding environment. Framed by planar, monolithic walls, a clear datum point for arrival sets up the sequence into the home.

This language continues above, as the monolithic walls below crouch and brace against the topography. The upper level floats above this plinth, in conversation with an enclosed courtyard, offering the living and sleeping spaces a window onto the natural landscape beyond. In-situ concrete and glass make up the building, allowing the delicacy of the internal fabric and exterior foliage to form a balance in which building and landscape become one.

Materials have been chosen to reflect the locality of the site, with a dark palette connecting to the shadows and depth of the forests beyond, while also creating spaces of comfort and mood. A simplicity of structure and careful application of texture and transparency allow the project to feel both expansive and compact, despite its 1,400 sqm floor area.