The Blue Bush House is a brick home that stands within its surrounding bushland. Perched above the historic Hornsby Quarry in Sydney's Upper North Shore, the early 1950s home for a young family engages in a dialogue between nature and architecture.
The objective was to create a refuge that also provided entertainment, with a design that afforded maximum solitude while maintaining its connection to the land and its surroundings. Despite being in a beautiful bush setting, the Blue Bush House was confronted with the highest BAL rating of Flame Zone. With the added restrictions and limitations to glazing and timber cladding allowances, addressing both the objective and the bushfire requirements was a challenge.
The name Blue Bush was inspired by the endless nature of sky and bush that surrounds the house. The interior has been injected with vivacity and colour, drawn from the architect’s own utopic vision. The disposition of multiple curves continuously travels through the interior, adding to the subtly utopic aesthetic of the space.
A meticulous study of colours and relationships between space and light brings to life a project with an elegant mood trapped in time. The design creates a sense of order and continuity, which helps to ground some of the more unique components. A contemporary family home built to stand the test of time, balances the simplicity of its cubic forms with its elegant, detailed interiors.
