Tucked within a ridgeline in Australia’s Blue Mountains is one of the country’s most lauded modern homes.
Australian architect Peter Stutchbury, who won Australia’s highest architectural honour last year, designed the Invisible House for filmmaker Alex Proyas, director of The Crow and I, Robot. Completed in 2010, the home went on to win the title of the Australian ‘House of the Year’ in 2014 and be shortlisted for this year’s RIBA International Prize.
The four-bedroom property – on the market via via Modern House for AU $9 million – takes its name from the way it melds into its surroundings, an effect achieved by a stretching cantilevered roof that embeds the structure within the landscape.
‘We did not direct our thoughts to a gesture, but rather studied the surrounds both immediate and distant,’ said Stutchbury.
The architect used a simple material palette throughout the house. Its exterior is made up of concrete, glass and steel. Much of the interior is also concrete, though there are accents of Mudgee stone, brass and copper fittings, including balustrades made of fencing wire and star pickets. Bedrooms are lined with plywood.
In addition to the four bedrooms and open-plan living areas are gallery spaces, flexible study/studio rooms and a courtyard.
Outside, the 4,600 sq ft property is surrounded by a grove of trees and leagues upon leagues of grasslands and mountains. It comes with 65 hectares of its own land.