Otago House
Hobart
A house of 2019 at Otago Bay on the eastern shore of the River Derwent at Hobart, built for a couple who had owned the steep, rocky site for years before building. The upper floor perches with heavy walls framing the water; the lower floor beds into the ground among the she-oaks. The corridor in this picture runs along a long curved wall that follows the contours of the site, under an oak ceiling that lifts at the eastern end to face Mount Direction and again at the west to take in the river and kunanyi / Mount Wellington. The wall is not stone but custom shot-blasted concrete block, made locally to sit with the tones of the setting. The architects' own name for the house is House at Otago Bay.
The site is bushfire zoned and open to strong winds, and the house answers with thermal mass and local materials meant to weather: in the architects' telling, a house that looks better with age rather than needing constant care. Cave Constructions built it, with the landscape by Playstreet. At the 2019 Tasmanian Architecture Awards it took The Esmond Dorney Award, the state's named award for new houses.
Topology Studio
A Melbourne practice in Albert Park founded in 2012 by directors Amy Hallett and Darren Kaye, working across houses, multi-residential, hospitality and public buildings. The designs are led by each site's physical landscape and its climate, joined to a robust, process-driven way of working.
Architecture and interiors Topology Studio (@topology_studio). Photography Paul Hermes (@paul_hermes_). Styling Lynda Gardener (@lynda.gardener). Seen via @co_architecture_au.
The picture comes from this post on Instagram.
Researched August 2026. I credit each piece as carefully as I can; if you know more about this one, message me on Instagram.