Harkaway House

Architecture   I   SAAJ Design
Builder   I   Becker Building
Artist Impressions   I   SAAJ Design
Town Planning Permit Achieved

A modern-day homestead architecturally designed to float on the property’s landscape in the treelined region of Harkaway, Melbourne Victoria. Incorporating geothermal energy, solar panels and a 300,000 litre water tank, we were able to design this house to be semi off-grid, whilst having floor to ceiling glazing to capture the amazing distant views of the Dandenong Ranges national Park and flanking Lysterfield and Cardinia Reservoir Parks.

 Part of the client brief, was to connect the house to a large shed. This is to be used regularly on a daily basis but also enjoyed by guests. The scale of the shed is large, simple, and monolithic. The strategy was to cut the site flat, submerge the vertical extent and use the excess cut. We created a sculptural mound and hedgerow of trees to foil the shed from the house view. A link on the same entry axis of the house connects the two and bisects the mound via flanking landscape, retaining walls. This controls one’s view and ultimately engages with the house, shed and greater landscape.