Mountain hideout
This is an excerpt from an article in Sanctuary magazine issue 5.
When you have owned your land for twenty years before you decide to build on it, you have had plenty of time to think about your house-to-be. When you bought the land to preserve its trees—and the land also happens to be on the edge of a World Heritage Area and national park—then you can bet you’d be after a house that’s as environmentally-friendly as they come.
That was just the case when Alan Edwards and Gail Walker were planning their house near Cradle Mountain in Tasmania’s alpine heartland. Dedicated bushwalkers who normally reside in Queensland, Gail and Alan have been visiting this part of the world for many years. “We were drawn to the remoteness and pristineness of the area,” says Walker, “so when it came to designing a house here we wanted our footprint to be as minimal as possible.”
Enter environmental designer Mark Dewsbury of Launceston-based design practice Carawah. A researcher at the University of Tasmania in sustainable housing and designer of many environmentally friendly homes, Dewsbury is well versed both in the theory and practice of sustainable living spaces. “It’s about maintaining a balance between the built environment and what was already there,” says Mark.
The glorious native woodland on the property and the alpine feel of the mountains nearby were the starting points for the design inspiration. “This land had been clearfelled thirty years before we bought it, but now, fifty years on, it’s thriving forest,” says Gail. With the soft grey-green hues and the curvaceous forms of surrounding nature, the site suggested something quite organic, but Gail and Alan weren’t sold on the timber cabin look.
“I’m inspired by Scandinavian designs that are simple, functional and beautiful,” says Gail. “The look we were after was that kind of very cool, northern European interior, but with lots of glass to bring the outside in.” And while the look had to be “cool” the temperature certainly couldn’t. The couple wanted a naturally cosy, inviting space to retreat to after time outside in the mountain wilds. The site is surrounded by forest in a bushfire prone location, and is not always occupied, so the house had to be fire safe. The brief was for style, sustainability and protection—and plenty of sun and warmth.
“We spent quite a lot of time on-site, taking in the feel of the bush,” says Mark, “and came up with a rectilinear version, as well as a more organic version of the design, which is the one the clients decided to build.” That design was based on an elipse or ovoid shape, inspired by the curved seed pods of native hakea plants. “It’s like a seed pod or shell that’s pushed into the ground at the back, and opens out to the front,” explains Mark. “It allows that protected, cocooned, hunkered-down feel, offering warmth, even in the cold of winter, but still focused out on the natural landscape.”
