Local House | Zen Architecture

Local House is a modern, sustainable home that reinterprets the character of Mount Eagle Estate and harmonises with its landscaped surrounding.

Local House is home to a couple who love art, travelling and appreciate good design. They have four adult children, recently became grandparents, and wanted a house where their family could comfortably visit and stay.

Their existing split-level house – where they raised their family – was inefficient, poorly planned and didn’t optimise the site. They engaged Zen Architects to design their new home, providing a comprehensive list of requirements for sustainability and spatial planning, which we achieved through orientation, layout and palette. The house also had to meet the heritage, landscape and vegetation protection overlays of Mount Eagle Estate, a historically significant suburb planned and designed by Marion Mahoney and Walter Burley Griffin in 1915.

Designed for aging in place, their new single-storey home is accessible and mobility-friendly. The planning separates private, public and guest spaces – allowing the house to expand and contract with visiting family members – and is interwoven with outdoor and landscaped areas.

We selected a robust and tactile material palette to integrate the house within its setting, helping connect the building to the site and the garden weaving inside and out. These natural, recycled and sustainable materials – sourced almost entirely from within Victoria – will age gracefully, minimising maintenance and contributing to healthy interiors. Carefully placed windows optimise light and ventilation for passive solar design, and the landscape will grow in, around and over the house with time.

Builder: CBD Contracting Group

Photography: Derek Swalwell

Website: https://www.derekswalwell.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/derek_swalwell/