Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

See why this Australian home – with internal ponds and 'rivers' – has gone viral

See why this Australian home – with internal ponds and 'rivers' – has gone viral

Plants and fish ponds weave between four bedrooms, a dream pool and a marble kitchen in this modern oasis in Sydney

A strikingly modern house in Australia that takes indoor/outdoor living to the next level has been shared around the world.

Formerly a 1920s cottage, it's been completely transformed and is now a spectacular oasis through which plants and fish ponds weave between four bedrooms, a dream pool and a luxury kitchen.

                                

Named 'Iron Maiden House', the design by CplusC architects was given its name for being the first steel-clad house in the neighbourhood.

                                

Founder and lead architect Clinton Cole spent three years designing this home, inspired by the shape of a natural gorge.

Located in Sydney’s lower North Shore, this modern house draws on it’s local context and history to create a unique, contemporary home. It's consistent with the immediate neighbours in terms of setbacks and maximum height. However, the form is a modern re-interpretation of the gable houses typically found in the area.

                                

The house was designed for a family of five who wanted a home which celebrated the Sydney climate after returning from many years living in Hong Kong. They wanted an inside-out house after twenty years of apartment living.

A key aspect of their brief to the architects was for a home that had a strong relationship to nature and space to entertain and grow with the family.

                                

The interiors feature generous living and entertaining areas which flow between indoors and out, while an elevated external corridor connects the children’s bedrooms with views over the garden and swimming pool.

                                

But Clinton Cole's pièce de résistance is the fish pond that divides the home into two pavilions, a clever feature that cools warm breezes and drowns the sound of passing traffic with a blissful white noise from its bubbling fountain.

                                

The house's shape was inspired by a natural gorge, in which water cuts through rock to form secluded spaces. The house was sliced through the middle, with a long pond forming a 'stream' that runs through the middle of the home.

                                

Slender, cathedral-like spaces were formed around this central thoroughfare with ponds running parallel to walkways to link the spaces.

                                

Large floor-to-ceiling windows frame postcard-worthy views in different directions, and generous stair treads form a place to sit opposite the largest window.

                                

Garden courtyards and ponds weave between rooms, seamlessly blurring the lines between indoors and out.

                                

There's also a sunken pool, fire pit and an enormous kitchen with two kitchen islands.

The kitchen is dominated by two marble-top islands, which the owners envisaged as the perfect spot for entertaining guests and serving food.

                                

A corner sofa at the back of the kitchen provides space for lounging, watching TV, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper in the morning.

                                

The owners' willingness to experiment with the avant-garde enabled Clinton Cole to design the kind of daring structure he had always wanted to create, one where bedrooms, bathrooms and hallways spill out into the open air.

Shrouded in a corrugated metal sheet, the house is so-called for being the first steel-clad house in Longueville, a neighbourhood characterised by conservative gabled houses which makes the 'Iron Maiden' all the more striking.

                                

The distinctive cladding is a nod to the iconic Australian vernacular material which is intended to age over time, developing rusted edges.

                                

The cladding is a traditional material used in Australian construction for the past 200 years. The galvanised metal sheet that fronts the house is still manufactured in the same way it was when it was imported by British settlers in the 1800s.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
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
×