Burraworrin (‘Magpie’) House, on the coastline of the Mornington Peninsula, is for three generations of one family. Many country residences are detached and isolated, this house, however, melds with the undulating landscape and explores, through its spatial arrangement, the physical need for attachment within the family unit. Burraworrin House expresses an interest in creating spaces that can delight, challenge, heal, calm, even excite. It has been brought forward right to the edge of the ridge. It’s just starting to emerge out so it seems this could be a hang glider, on the tip.

The Burraworrin House has got a sense of movement and an almost rotational quality that dances. There’s a sense of anchor, too, that is reinforced by the long stone wall that leads in from the carport. That long straight wall turns into a circle and there is vertical connection to the lookout. The main living arranged space around the kitchen and the fire pit. External curved elements are rescaled and repeated internally, resonating in the details of the kitchen bench, the undulating elliptical ceilings, and the rising and falling floor levels.

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