Victoria
The house in its site is around the back of the shed. The shed is floating above the crop of the season or the sheep clearing out the weeds. The shed is protecting the house from the south and southwesterly. The house faces the grassland, floating again but now above the native spear, kangaroo and wallaby grasses.
The house is a cottage, a filled-in verandah, a throw-back to some strange yet familiar relic. The house does not speak of its internal logic. It does not reveal its secret. As architecture it doesn’t command its site. It sits where it is with no particular attempt to affect it. Its presence is weak, down the hill and around the corner.
Its strange details and near misses are where the architecture lives. The things that we know from our years of studying and practicing and the time we’ve spent living together.
By definition we see the client as the next occupant. The project is inseprable from the care of the land. It only exists to support that.
The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.
