Loggia House

Sustainable four-bedroom family home on a ‘rural adjacent’ site in the Witchcliffe Ecovillage

Our first house in the celebrated Witchcliffe Ecovillage, this project exceeds their commendably stringent life cycle and energy efficiency requirements while meeting our clients’ brief for a contemporary architectural design that avoids the sometimes stereotypical look of sustainable design. Taking its inspiration from the efficient and uncompromising construction of rural sheds, the house is contained and restrained but not without human scale and interest.

Following a gentle slope on a corner block, a single rectangular wedge falls from west to east, small courtyards cut into the plan to connect the house to its site and environment. Organised around a stepped central corridor, bedrooms and service areas are arranged along the protected south side of the house while shared spaces open towards the north and the primary street.

Insulated rammed earth walls moderate temperatures internally and provide a consistent  natural material tone throughout, while a screened timber verandah along the northern elevation acts as a loggia that shades walls in summer and creates a halfway space between inside and out.  Internally, white raked ceilings create dynamic internal areas while spotted gum joinery complement the palette of burnished concrete and pale local rammed earth.

A large solar array with battery storage, grey water recycling and hydronic heating complement the house’s embedded 8-star efficiency and helps achieve an outstanding eTool certified 147% reduction in global warming potential against a reference design.

Choosing to design our house with Cast has been one of the best decisions we’ve made. We could not recommend Cast Studio highly enough.

David and the team have embraced designing our home all while supporting our family through the process as we navigated some tough life challenges.

From the get go it was clear that Cast approach their projects as craftspeople with a deep investment in designing and delivering a home that combines form, function and family needs. Their passion for the project, commitment to the brief and attention to detail have been exceptional.

This has truly felt like one united team all pointing in the same direction. We’ll forever be grateful to David, Jake, Stephen and the team for going above and beyond to create our family home.