The first and most striking thing that is clear about the house is that it’s inverted butterfly roof gives it a unique character through its embrace of the sky. Rainwater on this roof flows to the centre of the house where it is directed to rain chains that descend from the central beam to the garden below. The other incredible benefit to the inverted roof is that the windows sit tall on the walls flooding the rooms with natural light.

The Gravity House came with a fair amount of strategy to its development development as it was set on a triangular lot which raised the issue of how to create a useable back yard. One of the strategies was to cutback the house at the rear with a covered porch with an openable corner to the interior of the house. This allowed generous summer time integration while extending the usable area of the rear lot.

The house uses materiality and a repetitive “T” shaped window structure to give it a distinguished character that plays with variations on this theme. It is materially considered for the warmth of cedar while maintaining concrete panel as the body of the house. Unique features such as entries and fireplaces are then treated in stone. The overall result is dramatic and unique.

Building Design: David Pritchard with PRAI
Landscape Design: De Haas Landscape Design
General Contractor: Reid Developments
Photography: Martin Knowles