Set in the verdant, eastern suburbs of Sydney, Treetops House is a careful balance of crisp concrete and soft lines. The creation of local architecture studio Tobias Partners, headed by Nick Tobias, the home, located in Woollahra, is carefully positioned in a street-facing plot, which, wrapped in foliage, does not reveal much of what's going on behind its verdant front. Here, minimalist architecture meets green nature, and unexpected, sweeping curves offer drama to the everyday.
Treetops House: a curated experience
Treetops House was commissioned as a new home for a retired couple – and is set in Sydney’s traditional Gadigal lands. Curating the space around geometric forms and green views, the architects put an experiential element at the heart of their design.
As the new home was conceived as a downsize from the client's previous residence, it was important it kept to a modest scale – yet still allow for the display of the owners' 'most treasured objects from a lifetime of travels and memorable occasions, including artwork, artefacts, objects, furniture and family mementoes'.
Crafted among relatively tightly packed adjacent properties and set below street level, as the site accommodates a sharp fall, the project was designed as a two-level, two-pavilion structure in order to break down the overall volume of the house and blend it more effortlessly into the leafy garden.
As a result, it remains largely hidden and discreet – as there are few external viewpoints where one can take in the entire structure at a single glance.
The upper levels contain the public spaces – importantly the living room, which features a glass expanse that frames the tree canopy beyond. Next to it, a kitchen, accented by a deep blue wall and a curved, timber ceiling, adds to this level's dynamism.
The home's private areas, including bedrooms (for the owners and guests), a library, and an artist's studio are arranged around a central courtyard on the lower level.
Treetops House makes the most of its site's challenges and serene landscape, creating a contemporary home that feels elegant and sharp – but at the same time thrives in the playfulness and softness gained through clever features, textures, shapes and the omnipresence of nature.
-
Introducing Wallpaper’s new video series, The Stuff That SurroundsIn The Stuff That Surrounds, Wallpaper* explores a life through objects. First up, we go inside the eclectic Barbican flat of creative director and designer Veronica Ditting
-
A new London design show explores material magic with medieval melancholyInspired by deconsecrated monasteries, curator Jermain Gallacher takes us on a journey through time and mood in a London exhibition at The Ragged School
-
William Morris mania meets the design industry’s darker side in a new London show‘Morris Mania’ at the William Morris Gallery explores the British designer’s complicated legacy in an ever-more commodified world
-
A contemporary retreat hiding in plain sight in SydneyThis contemporary retreat is set behind an unassuming neo-Georgian façade in the heart of Sydney’s Woollahra Village; a serene home designed by Australian practice Tobias Partners
-
Join our world tour of contemporary homes across five continentsWe take a world tour of contemporary homes, exploring case studies of how we live; we make five stops across five continents
-
Who wouldn't want to live in this 'treehouse' in Byron Bay?A 1980s ‘treehouse’, on the edge of a national park in Byron Bay, is powered by the sun, architectural provenance and a sense of community
-
A modernist Melbourne house gets a contemporary makeoverSilhouette House, a modernist Melbourne house, gets a contemporary makeover by architects Powell & Glenn
-
A suburban house is expanded into two striking interconnected dwellingsJustin Mallia’s suburban house, a residential puzzle box in Melbourne’s Clifton Hill, interlocks old and new to enhance light, space and efficiency
-
Palm Beach Tree House overhauls a cottage in Sydney’s Northern Beaches into a treetop retreatSet above the surf, Palm Beach Tree House by Richard Coles Architecture sits in a desirable Northern Beaches suburb, creating a refined home in verdant surroundings
-
Year in review: the top 12 houses of 2024, picked by architecture director Ellie StathakiThe top 12 houses of 2024 comprise our finest and most read residential posts of the year, compiled by Wallpaper* architecture & environment director Ellie Stathaki
-
A monolithic house in rural Victoria celebrates 50 shades of greyAdam Kane Architects’ monolithic house in rural Victoria, Grey House, is ‘a testament to the power of simplicity and harmony’
