Located in Kiama, on the NSW South Coast, Saddleback Mountain House was conceived to meet the needs of a growing family with a lifestyle strongly connected to the outdoors.

Designed by Casey Brown Architecture, the home integrates with its landscape, and in particular an unmissable Moreton Bay fig tree, which serves as its central anchor.

Prioritising robust materials and passive design principles, the house unfolds as a series of pavilions, offset and arranged in a gentle radius around the tree. This curvature allows the home to sit comfortably within the natural contours of the hill, while the pavilion layout breaks down the building's scale, creating sheltered courtyards.

These outdoor spaces are strategically positioned to offer refuge from the elements, ensuring comfortable living regardless of wind or sun exposure on this exposed site.

A concrete spine wall runs through the center of the house, separating public and private areas. In line with the passive design approach, the thermal mass of this inclusion, combined with geothermal hydronic heating, cross ventilation, and carefully oriented glazing and overhangs, helps ensure year-round comfort.

In terms of material, the architects chose concrete and hardwood for their longevity and tactile presence. Most of the timber in the house is recycled, either from the cottage that was previously on the site or from a stockpile of beams and posts collected over the years by the client.

The tapering main pavilion contains the family room, kitchen, dining, and sunken living areas, while a separate pavilion to the south includes a playroom, which is intended to evolve over time with its growing occupants.

The children’s bedrooms are in a separate pavilion to the east across the corridor from a master suite in its own pavilion to the north.

The outdoor rooms are designed to harness the sun and mitigate wind and enable year-round use, while there is also a central courtyard with a pool and native plants.

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