Bunkeren by James Stockwell Architect

Built on the land of the Awabakal people Whitebridge, New South Wales

Jury citation Reference to the wartime coastal bunkers of Europe and Australia may have been the generative reference for this amazing house, but the constructed imagery of the reference is the antithesis of this design’s relationship between interior and landscape.

Concrete quality is dependent on many factors: formwork tightness, concrete mix, placement and a love of the material. This house takes the béton brute of Le Corbusier, via Perret and Behrens, to a new level of detail and sophistication. The juxtaposition of boardmarked and smooth surfaces illustrates the potential of this superb material. Emerging from an enveloping landscape, the project’s hovering platforms are a work of horizontal excellence. The detail of apparent separation of vertical and horizontal concrete surfaces, often with top light, results in exquisite sequences as one moves through the plan.

The singular expression of the concrete surfaces, stone floors and timber joinery allows magnificent views to the coastal edges and distant headlands from all rooms. Setting the house into the site results in climatic stability, bushfire protection and greater habitat biodiversity. Generating its own power, collecting all its water and boasting zero emissions, the house is an exemplary design in sustainability. A stunning essay in concrete craft.

Architect James Stockwell Architect; Project team James Stockwell, Jeremy Sieczko, Elise Okunew; Builder Ledbury Constructions; Structural engineer Max Irvine; Landscape consultant Darren Nichols Design; Lighting consultant Lotte Kjeldsen; Photographer Patrick Bingham-Hall