Black-pigmented concrete and black timber battens have been used to create this tactile home in the village of Federal, New South Wales by Australian studio Edition Office.
The Melbourne-based firm designed Federal House to be both a peaceful sanctuary for its clients and a sculptural object dug into a slope in the hilly, forested landscape.
Edition Office has created a black concrete house
"At a distance the building is recessive, a shadow within the vast landscape," described Edition Office.
"On closer inspection, a highly textural outer skin of thick timber battens contrasts the earlier sense of a machined tectonic, allowing organic materials gestures to drive the dialogue with physical human intimacy."
It sits on a slope within a forested landscape Drawing on the verandah typology common among Australia's colonial homesteads, a central living, dining and kitchen space is wrapped by a partially covered deck area.
This deck was designed to create a variety of different connections to the surrounding landscape.
It was lined with black timber battens that filter air, views and more direct sunlight on the western edge, and left entirely open for panoramic views to the north.
Sliding glass doors open the house to the outside
Sliding glass doors around the living spaces allow them to be completely opened to the elements or sealed off.
At the centre is a double-height garden void, illuminated by a cut in the home's roof.
"The expansion and contraction o...