This garden house in suburban Adelaide was designed by architect-in-training Reuben French-Kennedy as a retirement home for his parents.
Willunga House is designed to work in harmony with nature, offering views of the surrounding landscape while minimising its carbon footprint through passive heating and cooling techniques.
The house wraps around a landscaped garden
At the same time, its form and layout are designed to be accessible as possible, making life easy and enjoyable for a couple in their later years.
"The challenge as I saw it was to create a home which successfully met the brief and all functional requirements, and adopted passive design techniques whilst achieving its own expressive architectural identity," said French-Kennedy. A window wall allows the living spaces to open out to a terrace
Windows were key to meeting the design work. French-Kennedy realised that, by locating the building to the rear of the site, he could create a spacious garden in front. The front elevation could then become a window wall, looking out over the garden to the view beyond.

"By strategically perching the building within the hillside, we were able to sit high enough in the landscape to capture the views, but low enough to avoid a balustrade on the deck, enabling an uninterrupted view from the kitchen and living space," said the designer.
This window wall offers an uninterrupted view of the landscape
This wall of glazing not only offers views, but also capture...