Weekend House | Cocoon | Bellemo and Cat | Victoria,Australia

This cocoon for weekend living is situated in a bushy coastal hamlet on the Great Ocean Road. The steepness of the site, the dramatic views and the sometimes harsh climate resulted in a object house that whilst protecting from the elements, opened one side to the landscape. In principle this is a matchbox inside an egg, a rectangle within an oval. Inside, the spaces dovetail together with the economic precision of a small boat or caravan. The light weight monocoque structure is a hybrid of techniques appropriated from boat building and aircraft engineering. The path to building this home was one of unleashing the pragmatic inside the poetic.
Description: Small House
Completed: 2001
Location: Wye River, Coastal Victoria
Photographer: Mark Munro
Source:Bellemo and Cat

Weekend Retreat | Victoria , Australia | Bellemo and Cat

This compact low budget weekender sits in its paddock and silently watches the weather roll over the distant hills. It's a house with various allusions both local (Ned Kelly) and international (burka, woolen tents of nomadic Arabic). The client as a Lebanese-Australian wanted to tie together her interest in working on peace in the Middle East and creating a home in harmony with the forces of nature on this part of the planet. The angle of the sun, the outlook to the view and the collection of water have been the determining principles in the design, as has the idea of duality; The harmony for the entire through the strategic placement of the parts. We have sought to design a building composed of two similarly shaped but distinct parts.
Completed 2007
Location: Rural Victoria
Photographers : Sonia Mangiapane /Michael Bellemo
Source:Bellemo And Cat