FAMILY MATTERS
An Architectural home outside sydney is A nuanced triumph of the relationship between man And nature
A home outside Sydney is an architectural triumph
On nights when sleep evades him, Matthew dillon will while away the hours till dawn watching the skies, challenging himself to single out stars and constellations, such as alpha centauri and the southern cross. Thanks to the skylight that stretches across the entire length of his Wentworth Falls, australia, home, he can do it from the comfort of his bed.
It is also for this reason that he decided to name the estate Pirramimma, which roughly translates to ‘under the moon and stars’ in the aboriginal language of the tribesmen who used to live at the foothills of the Blue Mountains, where the house stands today.
‘This house is like a huge sundial. once you get to know the architecture you can read the time based on the way that shadows are being thrown,’ says John dillon, Matthew’s brother, who acted as project manager on this from-the-ground-up build. ‘Matthew has the vision – and the money – and I have the sense of detail and the know-how to implement the ideas,’ he continues, explaining how the brothers approached what would be a seven-year project.
It was ambitious, but with two-anda-half hectares of picturesque land as a backdrop, it had to be.
For Matthew, the mandate was clear. after a career in finance that took him from Tokyo to singapore and, finally, geneva, he needed his last home to be a retreat from big city life. ‘on the one hand I wanted to get away from it all but on the other it needed to be a place where the whole family could meet.’ as a nine-sibling strong family, there needed to be room to move.
From the previous owner of the land, Matthew had inherited something of a show garden. cultivated on the banks of a lake, he’d planted an exotic array of rhododendrons and azaleas alongside mammoth trees, such as Monterey pines and himalayan cedars. ‘We actually built the house just so that we’d be able to enjoy the garden,’ jests John, who lived on the property along with his wife and three children during the project. In fact, the rehabilitation of the forlorn garden (it had been left neglected for quite some time) was John’s first priority. after a large-scale weeding of the grounds, he worked closely with landscape planner craig Burton to not only restore the garden but also enlarge the lake and add new elements, such as an orchard and a Japanese teahouse.
In keeping with Matthew and John’s detailed brief, architect Peter stutchbury has executed a building that, despite its distinctively steep pediment, is both elegant in its design and sensitive to its environment. With a basic structure of steel and concrete, this could very easily have been an aggressive, emotionless space but, through a clever use of salvaged eucalyptus, it becomes softened, its lines almost poetic. Finally, the roof was covered with zinc, the matte patina of the metal reflecting the Blue Mountains in the distance, while light floods the home through wide first-floor windows and the expansive skylight.
The ground floor accommodates the public spaces of the home – open-plan living and dining area, kitchen, breakfast bar – as well as two guest suites. on the second level, however, Matthew opted to personalise his private portion of the home to suit his preferences. These include a spacious bedroom with a large terrace, a walk-in dressing room, a workout area and, in the bathroom, an ofuro stands as a comforting reminder of his time spent living in Japan. Furniture throughout subtly mixes mid-century scandinavian sensibilities (but not effusively so; ‘not too many iconic pieces, we didn’t want it to appear too arranged and artificial,’ says John) with contemporary design. ‘Matthew came back from a week in Bangkok, jumped in his car, and went on a mission to rattle every furniture dealer and auction house looking for the pieces he wanted,’ laughs John. Matthew’s extensive – and eclectic – collection of artworks should come as little surprise as, along with his degree in finance, he also studied fine art and today his home is filled with it, from sculptures by catalan artist Marta Moreu to contemporary chinese pieces.
since its completion, Matthew has been dividing his year equally between Pirramimma and his other homes abroad – but not for long. soon his retreat, which is a quick hundred kilometres outside of sydney, will be his permanent address.
But that doesn’t mean that he’s done working on the property. ‘I’ve thought of setting up another house for guests or perhaps even creating a studio for an artist in residence,’ he says. For John, the land – and the house – has become so much more than something that two brothers built. ‘Matthew and I won’t be here in a hundred years,’ he says. ‘We wanted to create a sense of history that will endure, something that will be felt by the generations that live here long after we’re gone.’
‘WE WANTED TO CREATE A SENSE OF HISTORY THAT WILL ENDURE’ John dillon, project manager