Highgate Hill House by Richard Kirk Architect

Designed by Richard Kirk Architect, the Highgate Hill house is located on a south facing ravine adjacent to one Brisbane’s oldest ridgeline roads - Dornoch Terrace. The steepness of the rectangular site containing a verdant and mature landscape consisting of a mixture of native and exotic, which created the opportunity to place the house within a rich landscape environment.

As a result of the steepness of the site and the desire to connect the house to an outdoor ground plane the house adopts two distinct identities – the north (landscape) and east (street) is a diminutive floating single level volume hovering over fine steel pins – the south and west (distant views) the vertical and monumental character is revealed of the tall three level residence.

The rectangular form of the house is organized over three levels with the middle level containing living and dining spaces and also the point of entry from the street. The upper level contains all the bedrooms and a void that is located over the dining area. The lower level contains a guest room and a media space. The void within the house acts not only as a spatial device to orient and extenuate the verticality of the tall trees outside, but also separates bedrooms of the parents and children.

To integrate the landscape with the living spaces, the external openings are of a significant scale so that the internal floor plate opens up completely to the outdoor spaces. To celebrate the transition from interior to exterior, the walls open completely via series of stacking sliding glazed timber panels.

Fine vertical timber members screen the building’s upper level to the street to provide a veiled public façade that works as a series of layers laid over the building volume. In response to the dominance of the landscape, the house is entirely clad in timber where each species is selected to age in response to its orientation and weathering.