Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

A Couple’s Home in Australia Is a Canvas for Changing Light

A Couple’s Home in Australia Is a Canvas for Changing Light

Centered in a lush garden, the single-level dwelling by Edition Office features softly textured brick and burnished concrete that make for dynamic, glowing interiors.

When architect Kim Bridgland was approached by a couple looking to relocate to the Australian gold rush town of Kyneton from an expansive rural property, she was surprised by their ask. "Our clients described themselves as being in the autumn years of their lives," says Bridgland, a co-director of Melbourne-based firm Edition Office. "Conscious of reflecting this, they hoped their new home might capture the qualities of autumnal light, color, and texture."



Bridgland’s answer was to position the new home in the center of its site and take up a small footprint, allowing the structure to be encircled by a lush garden, including several trees the clients relocated from their previous property.

Setting the home back from the street allows the landscape to buffer the home, and evokes memories of the clients’ rural past. "The deepened site position allows the house not to dominate the garden, but instead be wrapped and enveloped by it," explains Bridgland.



A rational, straightforward geometry for the home’s layout means the garden-accessible through sliding, wood-framed glass window walls in the common areas-takes center stage. "Our ambition for the house was for it to act as a reference point to the passing of time," says Bridgland. "The rooms are vessels for the changes of light, becoming a canvas for the theater of change occurring outside."

The muted, softly textured material palette draws in light, integrating the home with its surrounds. Mortar-washed brick walls in a coarse finish are complemented by concrete floors, which are simply the burnished structural slab. "It took some time to achieve the right color and texture to the brick wall finish," admits Bridgland. "We wanted the mass and mineral of the house to reflect the textural and tonal qualities of the countryside, as well as the patination of local historic buildings."



A sustainable design approach also helps the home integrate with and learn from the natural environment. The thermal mass of the recycled brick used for the walls, combined with cross ventilation, allows the home to be passively cooled. An air-exchange heat pump warms the floor slab in colder months. "The brick walls, low-carbon concrete floors, and galvanized steel roofing all reflect the changing effects of weather and time in their evolving surface patinas," says Bridgland.



Inside, the home’s simple arrangement contains a single bedroom, a study, two bathrooms, and an open-plan living area with a kitchen and dining space. From nearly anywhere inside the residence, the landscape is on display in an ever-changing showcase of nature. "We saw the house as an island," says Bridgland, "a sanctuary immersed amongst a landscape that changes over time, celebrating and expressing the seasonal temporality."


Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
×