This Brisbane home is a delicate balance of transparency and seclusion, sitting on the edge of a tree-lined gully.

Rosebery House in the city’s Highgate Hill area was designed by Aussie practice Andresen O’Gorman Architects and completed in 1997. It was conceived as a trio of double-storey pavilions that are connected by courtyards and covered walkways, and concealed by super-scale trellises and a canopy of trees.

The trellis skin that encloses the Brisbane home – on the market via Modern House, with price on application – has a dual purpose: it protects it from the western sun while creating air-flow throughout the house. But it also provides transparency while still hiding its inhabitants from prying eyes.

Each pavilion has a designated purpose and contains spaces for sleeping and bathing, working and eating, gathering, reading and quiet reflection. Walls, screens and columns help demarcate these spaces, and there are multiple staircases across the Brisbane property so it can adapt as its inhabitants’ needs change – and even accommodate multi-generational living.

Interiors are dominated by natural materials and the pièce de résistance is the living room space, whose battened panel screens slide away, opening it to the surrounding woodlands and the outside deck.

There’s also an abundance of glass throughout the Australian property. Says the current owner: ‘I often sit with a cup of tea and watch the light change. It’s a real shadow play, and I am constantly seeing new aspects of the place.’

Despite its jungle-like setting, Rosebery House is actually just 3km from central Brisbane, and is close to the Brisbane River.

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