Bushland Beauty: Castlecrag House by Polly Harbison Design.

Castlecrag House by Polly Harbison Design stands as a regal answer to contemporary bush living, delivering a series of special moments with well-thought-out design. The studio has reconfigured the disjointed and chaotic layout of the existing house, transforming dark, ad-hoc additions into a light-filled home.

The large existing building was ill-planned, as a series of additions resulted in what the studio describes as “an enormous, unattractive and unruly building… Whilst it met the fundamental requirements of shelter, what was missing was light, beauty and connection to the amazing site”.

Polly Harbison adopted a reductive design strategy where elements were selectively reduced, edited, and revived to salvage as much of the existing building as possible.

“The convoluted internal circulation was reconfigured, bringing light into the middle of the house,” explains Harbison. “The design worked within the existing footprint and strategically removed parts of the building to reduce the overall floor area. The location of bedrooms and living spaces was rationalized, linked by this new circulation spine. The site was conceived as a series of garden ‘rooms’ that were then linked to the house”.

Interior spaces bleed into the garden and surrounding bush-scape, as daily life becomes intertwined with nature. A fresh neutral palette has been adopted, designed to sit comfortably within a landscape of green foliage. Thinly-framed black steel windows and doorways allow soft sunlight to lick at the warm timber floors within. Soft semi-transparent curtains dance gently in the breeze, lulling all those within into a relaxed state. An arched form creates a new outdoor room that connects living spaces to the rear garden. The soft curving forms take their inspiration from the organic shapes found in nature, bringing a human touch to the robust concrete surface.

In the client’s own words, the design has “facilitated better life flow, providing a generosity of space while also creating a greater sense of connectivity throughout the house. We can now easily entertain small and large groups without being on top of each other, and on a day to day basis the family can enjoy privacy without needing to feel shut away.”

Polly Harbison Design’s Castlecrag House brings a contemporary voice to the bush, creating a refined, neutral haven that’s impossible to resist – even for city-slickers like us.

Related: Garden House in Lindfield by Polly Harbison Design and Arent & Pyke.

[Images courtesy of Polly Harbison Design. Photography by Brett Boardman.]