Single Family Home | Highgate Hill Residence | Brisbane Australia | Richard Kirk Architect

The Highgate Hill Residence is located on a south facing ravine adjacent to one Brisbane’s oldest ridgeline roads – Dornoch Terrace.
The steepness of the rectangular site has resulted in a verdant and mature landscape consisting of a mixture of native and exotics, which created the opportunity to place the house within a rich landscape environment.
As a result of the steepness of the site and the desire to connect the house to an outdoor ground plane the house adopts two distinct identities – the north (landscape) and east (street) is a diminutive floating single level volume hovering over fine steel pins – the south and west (distant views) the vertical and monumental character is revealed of the tall three level residence.
To the North and East, the living level embraces the landscape as the upper level hovers over the ground plane as a protective canopy. In these areas where the building is more intimate, the materials and detailing are deliberately fine and diminutive.
To integrate the landscape with the living spaces on the middle level, the external openings are of a significant scale so that the internal floor plate opens up completely to the outdoor spaces that consist of a series of floating platforms of constructed ground planes of timber decking or turf.
In response to the dominance of the landscape, the house is entirely clad in timber and uses timber glazed façade systems where each species is selected to age in response to its orientation and weathering.....more