Not every home can be built in such lovely surroundings. But when that opportunity does present itself, both homeowners and architects must fully embrace the landscape, which is what this home truly represents.
Elements and design features have been added that do not only look beautiful, but purposefully co-exist with the surrounding landscape for a home that feels safe, welcoming, and also distinctly natural. Creating both privacy and instant calm, the aesthetic allure of this home is enough to take one’s breath away wherever you rest your eyes.
The simplicity of the interior and exterior is a testament to connecting the home to its location. Inside, the main living areas of the house are situated on the ground level, including double volume breeze-way entrance, formal lounge with eco-smart fireplace, family room and a designer eat-in chef’s kitchen with centre island. On the upper floor of the house, four spacious bedrooms are all en-suite (his and hers dressing area off master suite). In addition, the property has a downstairs study, triple auto garage, staff quarters and sparkling pool stretching off the main deck area. Read on for the full story.
Dead slow, animals and children - the roadside signs on this rural farm, indicate the intention of what you can expect here- a home of quietude, restfulness, meditation and oneness with nature... The architectural response of the “Paddock House” at Blair Atholl was provided through the clues of this rural African landscape. The nature of the site, with its animals, its vegetation and its rural neighbors was the palette that defined an architecture through an appreciation of the preciousness of this environment. The home is dwarfed by the surrounding trees that line the paddock; it sits at the end of the paddock vista, opening its facade fully to the beauty of these remarkable surroundings. The exterior render is a tinted plaster with tiny stones, a regular clay tiled roof, of shutter soffits and frames, cobbled paved edgings and glass.
The interior materials of the home are a simple yet warm combination of white walls and ceilings, Lauro Pretto timbers, powder coated aluminum windows, off shutter concrete soffits, porcelain ceramic floor surfaces, woven light fittings and leather. The windows draw one’s attention to the immediate natural surroundings through narrow floor windows and enormous viewing double volume shopfronts. This family home celebrates abstraction, simple and contemporary elements and modern geometric form within a rural vernacular that is seen in the paddock fencing, stonework, the grassed hills, pebbled streams, and views to the horizon, forested enclaves, and a spectacular night sky.