Wadawurrung Country
Anglesea Passive House by Zen Architects seamlessly mediates between architecture, context, and environment to cultivate a residence in sync with its coastal surrounds.
Shaped by clients with both passive and architectural intentions, the residence has emerged as a reconciliation of both which has shaped a place that is profoundly contextual, integrated gently into the native bushland landscape of Victoria’s Surf Coast.
Navigating the naturally tapering topography, the residence’s design employs a modest 200m2 footprint, allowing for the retention of as much vegetation as was feasible while adhering to a strict BAL 29 bushfire rating.
The facade emulates the tones and linear expressions of the mature trees on the site, featuring vertical timber screening, reclaimed turpentine and ironbark and steel which contribute to its low-carbon design. Inside, the house is bright and luminous, with natural light filtering through the exterior screening to bathe surfaces of tallow wood, cork, steel and concrete, continuing gestures of verticality to instil a sense of cohesive refinement.
The living area and kitchen on the upper level embrace expansive views, creating a connection with the landscape which also serves as an alternative entry point to the ground floor bedrooms, studios and bathroom once the interior stairs prove difficult for a resident in their 90s.
Anglesea Passive House combines functionality, aesthetics, and sustainability to demonstrate the importance of builder/architect collaboration in realising homes deeply in tune with all the rituals of living unique to inhabitants, homes that rest lightly upon the ecosystems they rest within and those able to intuitively balance striking aesthetics alongside a sensitivity to their built and natural surroundings.
Builder: Aphi Projects
Photography: Derek Swalwell