YEAR 2023
ARCHITECT – Fouché Architects
PHOTOGRAPHY – David Chatfield
STYLING AND FURNITURE – Kira and Kira
VIDEO – Alanna Jayne Mctiernan
The reality of living on a warming planet presents a familiar challenge. How do we continue to live and thrive alongside our extraordinary Australian landscapes? For some, it means foregoing the tree-change serenity and retreating from bushfire zones and flood plains. However, some choose to wholly embrace their environment – in all its unpredictability.
When client, Kristie, purchased her breathtaking Tallebudgera site, she was faced with a seemingly impossible cocktail of extreme bushfire zones, biodiversity overlays, sheer sloping terrain, and koala habitat. Undeterred, she enlisted the help of builder Michael from Minarco and Rayne Fouché from Fouché Architects, who shared a vision to respect and amplify the formidable landscape to deliver a contemporary home amongst the gumtrees.
A product of the landscape, Trees Road Cabin overcomes its challenging site through calculated and considered design. Rather than dominating its surrounds, Trees Road Cabin invites the site to inform the plan. “Our goal was to disturb the site as little as possible,” architect Rayne explains. “Thankfully, there was an existing pocket of cleared vegetation, so the shape of the plan was derived from the landscape”. The long, compact plan holds 2 bedrooms, a stylish bathroom with an indoor-outdoor shower, and elongated kitchen and dining area.
However, the hero of the home is the generous outdoor entertaining deck, facilitating an immersive experience with the surrounding landscape. The cabin entry is formed by a sculptural porch sequence that negotiates the dense bushland to connect with the sloping topography. Below, an open carport and laundry anchor the project into the steep hillside, allowing the cabin to float overhead. “It was planned with the view, creating an outlook from each room,” Rayne explains.
With generous openings at every opportunity, natural ventilation permeates the plan negating the provision for air conditioning. Surrounding vegetation serves as a shading device in warmer months, while a wood fireplace keeps the cabin toasty in winter. However, designing the plan was only the first challenge – the execution was quite another.
On such a heavily constrained site, there was no room for error. Every decision was scrutinised against rigorous Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) Flame Zone (FZ) requirements. Stringent environmental protection overlays meant there was no option to remove foliage even for bushfire mitigation, triggering the top subcategory of BAL-FZ. “We’ve worked with bushfire overlays, but never Flame Zone.
There’s a limited number of products that have the right certification for that level of bushfire attack. It was a mission,” Rayne reflects. Michael agrees, “It was the extreme of the extreme – restricted heavily by what you can use and afford.” So, the team specified fire-rated fibre cement sheeting to protect the exterior of the cabin, with a suspended concrete slab floor devised to withstand ember attack and strong winds from downhill. Masonry blocks secure the project into the steep slope, while steel fire shutters are concealed above all openings for use in a fire event.
Trees Road Cabin may appear as a delicate structure, gently placed within the landscape – yet it is also one of the most indestructible objects in the area. “It was a struggle, probably the hardest project we’ve ever done. But totally worth it,” Rayne says.
Though the site posed numerous and seemingly impossible challenges, the final result demonstrates the power of a dedicated team united by good design.
While the exterior of the cabin presents an elegantly fortified structure, the interior bestows a contemporary yet cosy surprise. Simple, durable, and warm internal finishes further elevate the cabin, without compromising connections to the surrounding landscape.
In fact, the condition of the landscape itself has been considered as part of the overall project outcome. “We’re not introducing any landscaping,” explains Rayne. “But we are rehabilitating the site because there are invasive species on the downslope.
We can restore the surrounding site to its natural state”. Thus, Trees Road Cabin is an expression of restraint, seeking to build less and with longevity in mind. “We know the cabin is going to be here for many, many years to come,” Michael says.
With a special interest in unique and challenging sites, Michael and the team had their work cut out for them. “More people are looking at options to build in difficult places,” he says. And it’s no wonder why. As client Kristie explains, “It’s such a special place. I don’t know where else in the world you’d be able to get something like this”.
With breathtaking views capturing Burleigh, its beaches, the surrounding valley and hinterlands, there was no option but to embrace the site – albeit with some extensive design and consultation. Addressing a topical theme, Trees Road Cabin proves it is possible to co-exist – and thrive – alongside our environment. “Bushfires are a huge threat to us and Australia in general,” explains Kristie. “The fact that we’ve been able to build something that will remain standing is so important. It’s something that we’ll continue to face”.
The site may have been a challenging one, however this permitted the outcome to be all the more impressive. “It’s a product of the landscape, as it needed to be,” Kristie says.
