THE LAKE HOUSE
Bricks: Grampians Blues by Krause Bricks
Architect: John Wardle Architects
Builder: Spence Construction
Photography: Peter Bennetts
This choreographed residence is an homage to the beautiful gardens of Ballarat. It comprises a series of pavilions located within a landscape of varied garden types - formal, public, rambling, courtyard, and kitchen gardens. The differing gardens and landscaping provide a variety of outlooks from within the house, accentuated by changing light and seasonal coloration.
This house’s centre of gravity is the kitchen and generous central courtyard. The front pavilion is constructed of brick and overgrown with deciduous ivy which changes colour with the seasons. It reinterprets the tradition of the front hedge, so evident in the character of Ballarat. As you sit in the dining room, the topography of the site has been altered so you sink into the site with grassed berms surrounding you. Our preoccupation with the landscape manifests itself again in the front window of the main living room which traces the outline of the lake and treeline in its frame to idealise the view.
A sitting room appears as a greenhouse with glass louvers making for a warmer interior. This house grows with its landscape and garden surrounds.
Text from johnwardlearchitects.com
“...this house is an expansive and luxurious building which restores the dignity of everyday domesticity both through the beauty of the building crafts which form the stuff of the house but also through the finely honed liturgy of habitation which it imposes.”
“External materials are natural and durable and will age gracefully over time, requiring minimal maintenance.”
