Madeleine Blanchfield Architects, one of Australia’s most original and distinctive architects, has designed Tree House, a residence in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. The customer was Madeline herself: she built this country house, surrounded by trees, for her growing family.
This compact house, where everything is filled with a feeling of serenity and relaxation, is quite unusual even for an architect who is ready for any experiments. To achieve this new interpretation of spatial arrangement and layout, Madelein, founder of Madeleine Blanchfield Architects, had to consider greater variability in the use of each space, from the living room to the bedrooms. The rooms seem to intertwine with each other: they are united by a continuous flow of muted warm tones, creating the feeling of a quiet oasis for family life.
Space unfolds as a calm and consistent series of events, each of which has its own right moment. Residents of this refuge are encouraged to isolate themselves from the noise and influence of the outside world: this is helped by the lush cover of trees that cover the house outside.
Madeline rejected the typical layout of a two-story house from the very beginning. She moved all the communal spaces that would normally be on the ground floor upstairs. As a result, this bright interior looks as if it is “suspended” from the trees, like any tree house (hence the name Tree House).
All bedrooms open onto the lower level central stairwell. “Careful planning led to the decision to eliminate unnecessary spaces and corridors, allowing the focus to be on the volume, finish, and quality of the space,” states Blanchfield. The soft and restrained palette of the interior allowed the materials to visually merge and become an important architectural element. The raw, textured form of the concrete steps echoes the warm tones of the wooden floors: the architect believes that this combination of two textures creates a perfect balance.
In cozy interiors, you can see many more contrasting and harmonious combinations: soft leather and smooth wood with dusty terracotta-colored floor tiles and polished marble surfaces. There is a constant tension between warmth and coolness that creates a subtle sense of balance and beauty.
The main focus of the house is the sculptural spiral staircase that connects all levels. These expressive curves introduce elements of a new expressive language into a scheme dominated by a rectilinear grid. The gently curved shape is reflected in a circular light guide, allowing light from above to filter down. The play of shadows in the emptiness around the stairs is Madeline’s special calculated dramaturgy, which reveals her sensitivity to almost theatrical decisions.
