A luxurious stone and glass house with a spectacular infinity pool, built into the side of a cliff along a rugged coastline, has been voted Australia’s best home.
The single-storey country house overlooks the River Derwent in Tinderbox, a small beachside town 12 miles south of Hobart, and has won the gong for Australian Home of the Year at this year’s HIA-CSR Australian Housing Awards.
Judges described the house as a “once and a lifetime built for Tasmania” because of its expertly crafted stone walls that used 700 tons of hand-picked mud brick and the “indulgent” indoor/outdoor infinity pool that soars above the bushland below.
It came as no surprise that the property received the highest gong from the HIA after being cleaned in the state awards earning Tasmanian Home of the Year, as well as five other categories.
The standout feature of the Tinderbox house is its beautiful pool, project manager Michael Lane of Lane Group told builders Archipro there was “quite a bit of engineering involved” amid concerns it wouldn’t hold when filled with water.
Hidden behind stone walls and black gates lies the HIA’s Australian Home of the Year, a spectacularly one-of-a-kind mansion with a one-of-a-kind infinity pool, underground wine cellar and breathtaking views
HIA jurors described the house as a “once and a lifetime build for Tasmania” due to its expertly crafted stone walls that used 700 tons of hand-picked mud brick and the “indulgent” indoor/outdoor infinity pool that soars above the bushland below
The single storey house overlooks the River Derwent in Tinderbox, a small beachside town just 12 miles south of Hobart. It won the national award after tidying up at the state ceremony and earned Tasmanian Home of the Year in addition to five other categories
But wait, it did and it’s now the perfect place for guests to enjoy the scenic river views and landscape.
The rock walls in each room built after stonemasons hand-picked through piles of blasted boulders from a nearby quarry are another highlight.
“The stonecutters worked their way through it meticulously — we had to chisel away some of the stones to make them fit,” said Michael.
Lead architect Kate Symons of Studio Ilk said the pool sits outside the house’s structure: ‘gives you the feeling of being completely immersed in the landscape when using the pool, but also offers the flexibility of year-round use’
A unique feature of the building is the rock walls in each room, built with hundreds of tons of mudstone that stonemasons hand-picked from piles of blasted stone from a nearby quarry.
Hard materials such as stone, glass partitions and concrete floors and made cozy and intimate by the low ceilings and dark wooden walls to create a ‘sense of calm and peace’
There is also a games room with a full-sized billiards table, a library with a hidden elevator to the wine cellar and a sleek kitchen with a white marbled island bench with an integrated wooden breakfast bar.
Hard materials such as stone, glass partitions and concrete floors are made cozy and intimate by the low ceilings and dark wood walls used to create a ‘sense of calm and peace’.
Lane Group and Studio Ilk teamed up to design a home that showcased Tinderbox’s rugged natural beauty in every room, as per the client’s brief.
Each space has glass window walls to make the most of the view and can be closed off from the rest of the house for added privacy.
Studio Ilk’s lead architect, Kate Symons, described the project as “commercial in scale.”
There is also a games room with a full-sized billiards table, a library with a hidden lift to the wine cellar and a sleek kitchen with a white marbled island bench with an integrated wooden breakfast bar
While Kate described the project as “commercial in scale,” the former was familiar with the land having designed a home for the property’s previous owners that never came to fruition
The final result was an architectural masterpiece that works with the surrounding landscape rather than against it using a ‘restrained palette of materials’ that can withstand wildfires
The former owners had started excavating an underground wine cellar and underground tunnel to the waterfront, but left it unfinished for Kate and her team to design.
‘While the existence of the basement was not critical to our clients when purchasing the property, it was only natural that the tunnel access would be under the main roof of the new house, so we have included the layout here worked around it,” she explains.
Michael said the existing structures influenced how construction started: “When we first arrived there was only the fence around the stairwell that goes down to the basement, which goes down to the waterfront.
“So our first job was to demolish the fence, break out a stairwell, put in the elevator shaft, and from there we started building and working around it.”
HIA Director Graham Wolfe praised the Tinderbox family retreat for its “exceptional craftsmanship” and “groundbreaking design and innovation”
Judges said the residence is a “spectacular single-storey, sprawling property anchored to its windswept, bushland location by a series of heavy stone pavilions.”
The final result is an architectural masterpiece that works with the surrounding landscape rather than against it, using an ‘understated material palette’ that is durable and resistant to wildfires.
HIA director Graham Wolfe applauded Tinderbox’s family retreat for its “exceptional craftsmanship” and “groundbreaking design and innovation.”
Judges said the residence is a “spectacular single-storey, sprawling residence anchored to the windswept, bush-like site by a series of heavy stone pavilions.”
“An abundance of floor-to-ceiling glass windows create a serene atmosphere for the owners and their guests to enjoy, connecting them to the magnificent rugged coastline of the River Derwent from all public and private living areas,” they added. up to it.
