No Comments »

Dark Stone and Industrial-Strength Materials Line a Contemplative Australian House

• Tweet

• Tweet

Contemplative is not an adjective you’d normally associate with Australia, but here’s a peaceful stone-lined house that exemplifies the quality.

Dark stone tiles recur throughout the entire house.

You enter an empty space as if walking into the woods.

The entry continues down the broad central stairs, with the two pavilions of the house to each side, with the bedroom upstairs.

Ancient, massive gum trees impose their dignity on the scene. The house is scaled to match.

The reposeful bedroom is high in the giant gum tree forest.

Soft wood stairs meet the dark slate tiles on the wall.

Then it flips, so the floor is stone, the walls wood.

The effect of all this stone is sobering, cool and contemplative.

A massive kitchen workbench is also an industrial-strength stainless steel tabletop.

Like a huge cave, the stone-lined excavation offers a protected distant lookout to the serene ocean beyond.

The Balmoral house in Sydney is designed by Ian Moore Architects.