House No. 17
Brief
A retirement house for a couple downsizing from a much larger family home, on a generous but unremarkable suburban plot.
Problem
The couple wanted fewer, better rooms — the brief was explicitly about subtraction rather than accumulation.
Signature Drawing
Click a room in the plan for detail.
Spatial Concept
A house planned as a sequence rather than a diagram — you move through it the way you'd move through a garden.
Material Strategy
Rammed-earth walls stabilised with a small cement content, exposed timber roof structure, terrazzo floors made with aggregate from the excavated site material.
Environmental Response
Rammed earth's thermal mass flattens the daily temperature swing; deep eaves keep direct sun off the walls entirely.
Outcome
The clients report using every room daily — the house has no unused space, which was the entire brief.
Project Metadata
Timeline
Client interviews
Tree & shadow survey
Single-bar plan studies
Rammed-earth mix trials
Construction drawing set
11 months on site
Handover
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