Settled into the landscape below an impressive stone escarpment, Robinsons Run is a respectful and sustainable insertion to place. Bennett Murada Architects draws from the unique and enviable positioning of the home to create an immersive engagement of the senses and an embrace of the surrounds.

While the original brief called to replace an existing home on the site in Budgong as a modest weekend escape for its owners, subsequent bushfires ran through the property and caused both destruction and a complete reassessment of the goals, limitations and opportunities at play. Not merely wanting to replace what had already existed on the site referencing a similar size and scale, the owners sought to entirely reimagine their approach through a more holistically-focused lens, integrating an architecture that was both responsive and robust while also being sustainable and aptly worthy of the landscape itself.

Drawing both a material inspiration from the escarpment and responding to the environmental conditions of the site, Bennett Murada Architects proposes a monolithic and anchored home with its own unwavering presence. As one moves between the pavilions that comprise the home, there is a deliberate push and pull from both inside and out.

The immersive design expresses aim for the home to become a platform from which to engage the senses and become enriched through sight, sound, smell and touch. With uninterrupted openings, the interior becomes a protective shelter from which to watch the world pass by, allowing the shifting natural elements and the seasons to play out from all corners. 

Built by Buildline Constructions, together with immediate landscape design by Arcadia Landscape Architecture, the way the home is experienced further encourages a connection between the natural and the built. 

Entered from underneath, the presence of a masonry solidity confirms a protective force is present, staunchly shielding against the elements. There is a rawness to the materiality, and the exposed rammed earth walls both use the landscape to create a place of refuge within it. Combined with refined metalwork and crafted timber, the warmth of the materials provides the base for the home, while layered textiles add texture and soften the overall effect. In combining both rough and smooth textures throughout, a balance is created – similar to that of the building itself interacting with the landscape.