Two Tree House by Bark Design Architects

‘Two Tree House’ is designed for a young family on the steep terrain of a north facing escarpment in Australia.

Cantilevering high above the steep northern escarpment of Buderim Mountain, this young family’s ‘Tree House’ nods to the majestic Eucalypts, which frame the broad views of the Sunshine Coast from its large breezy decks in the subtropics.

From the light filtering breezeway, past the inviting plunge pool, this is a home for a trusting client with a modest budget, which was designed to be a modern, timeless, sustainable and climatic response for outdoor living and welcoming spaces within a smart modular structure.

Located on the northern slope of Buderim mountain on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, the design strategy of the house ‘repairs’ and utilises a large earthworks scar made on the site prior to our clients acquiring the site.

Modular living and sleeping pavilions are gathered together on a suspended timber platform connected by an open ‘breezeway’ and veranda spaces which provide external circulation between indoor and outdoor living whilst optimising the climate and connecting the occupants to nature and the immediate and broader landscape.

The swimming pool court anchors the single level house to the tenuous rocky slope and enables its lightweight platform to hover high above its terrain providing prospect over the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

‘Two Tree House’ preserves and celebrates the magnificence of two ancient ‘Flooded Gum’, Australian Eucalypts within the spirit of its place. It is a breathable and porous house to suit a benign subtropical climate, and an inextricable connection to its coastal place.

Robustness, economy and natural authenticity guided the design aesthetic and natural material palette of galvanised steel, hardwood timber, polycarbonate, plywood and fibre cement sheet cladding.

A changing filigree of light and shade filters through the ‘breezeway’ timber battened ceiling. The graphic shadows and sunlight tracking through the spaces register time, and season, whilst moonlight through the house is magic.