The Throughhouse is a bold new home behind a suburban façade, turning its back on the street to embrace a hidden landscape few realise exists. Beyond the fence line lie more than three hectares of sloping paddock, and this unexpected backdrop shaped the brief. Every room, the client insisted, needed a view. The design began with a desire for floor-to-ceiling glazing, but as the concept evolved, it became clear that restraint would achieve more. An all-glass approach would have compromised comfort, budget, and atmosphere. Instead, the architecture, featuring cross laminated timber construction, creates an impression of openness through framed outlooks, spaces that blur the boundary between inside and out, and layered thresholds that draw the landscape deep into the home. The result is a house that is efficient, liveable, and deeply connected to its site.
The main living zone is raised on a minimalist platform, framed by brick columns in a steady rhythm, a gesture reminiscent of the Parthenon. Though enclosed, it reads as a room without walls, surrounded by in-between spaces that feel open to the air yet remain under cover. Along the southern edge, a dramatic double-height atrium reinforces this quality. With cobblestone underfoot, steel-clad walls, and trees planted into the slab, it feels more like a courtyard than a corridor. Built using cross-laminated timber construction, overhead glazing floods the space with light, establishing the openness that defines the home.
This approach extends throughout, from near-frameless glazing and flush thresholds that dissolve boundaries between garden and interior to curtains that soften transitions, creating moments of intimacy within larger gestures. Upstairs, the master suite and three bedrooms connect via a bridge that hovers above the atrium, reinforcing the sense of light and openness in daily movement. Across the void, a separate rumpus also framed with CLT Construction gives the children privacy now and flexibility in years to come.
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LOWER GROUND FLOOR
Garage
Storage
Studio/Guest Area
Gym
Office
GROUND FLOOR
Kitchen
Living
Dining
Bedrooms
Bathroom
Study
FIRST FLOOR
Master Suite
Private Retreat
Outdoor Entertaining
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Cross-Laminated Timber underpins the design structurally and atmospherically. Its exposed finish brings warmth and calm to the interiors, while its acoustic and thermal performance shields the home from the busy road. As a renewable, carbon-sequestering material, CLT reflects the family’s commitment to sustainability. Prefabricated with precision, it reduces waste, speeds construction, and delivers an airtight envelope for long-term efficiency. Materially, the home thrives on contrast and continuity. External elements are drawn indoors - steel cladding, cobblestone, even the motif of curtains, while interior gestures extend outward. The result is layered and ambiguous, the line between inside and out never fixed. Despite bold geometry and strong forms, the house remains soft and intimate, with planted courtyards and a shade sail over the outdoor dining space tempering its presence. For the family, Throughhouse offers more than shelter. It is a study in contrast and control: enclosed from the world beyond, yet open to the landscape within. By balancing strength with subtlety, and embracing CLT as the design’s backbone, it creates a home that feels at once dramatic, protective, and enduring.