Red Hill / Inarc Architects

Architects: Inarc Architects
Location: Mornington Peninsula, VIC, Australia
Architect: Clodagh McCallig
Project Architect: Ben Stibbard
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Peter Clarke

Project Area: 391.0 sqm
Structural Engineer: BHS Consultants

Red House at Red Hill, Victoria (Australia) represents the adventurous spirit of the Australian weekender, albeit with a little more discreet comfort.

The building sits within a paddock defined by rows of pine windbreaks. The view is world class, serene and bucolic on the one hand yet ever changing when looking towards Port Philip bay and passing ships.

The Red House plan is a linear arrangement of spaces emanating radially a central hub. The long kinked and fragmented plan allows for a variety of daylight and views in every room.

The linear plan results in a long and low angular building form which is nestled into the contours of the hill. From a distance the rusted steel cladding appears solid, closer inspection reveals a transparent veil of perforations. The uniformity of the cladding and the jagged composition of walls and roof suggest house as sculpture, something timeless, non utilitarian and something which will preserve the excitement generated by this site.

Red Hill has become a rural and coastal retreat for Melbourne’s well heeled who wish to escape their urban existence. Increasingly big budget homes carry their urban sameness to the countryside and overwhelm the delicacy of experience to which the occupants retreat.

Red House demonstrates that the experience can be enjoyed and augmented in an artistic manner while at the same time satisfying the demand of modern housing must haves, a weekender that works.