Cut Out House | Young Projects | 2026 | 澳大利亚
From the graceful curve on the building’s entrance side to the butterfly roof that tilts up like a hand shading the eyes to better see the stunning alpine view, layers of complex architectural design feature in Cut Out House by Young Projects. Yet “it’s actually quite a simple project. It’s just a four-square grid, but one of the squares has been displaced,” says principal architect Bryan Young, sketching the plan and demonstrating how one quarter has been pivoted to the side and the space it vacated smoothed over with a curved edge.
The simplicity of the design takes nothing away from the genius of the architecture but helps to explain the sense of balance and quiet confidence the building radiates. Clever and considered architecture without unnecessary showmanship is a signature of the studio and is exactly what the site demanded. “Part of the narrative for Young Projects is developing dramatic immersive spaces that can also be very neutral,” says Young.Located in a low-density development in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, the project is designed as a second home for the clients, a place to retreat and engage with nature. The building needed to be grounded into the site while also opening to rejoice in the phenomenal views across alpine meadows to the Rockies. “The project is highly topographical,” says the architect. “The roof plane is in dialogue with the ground, sometimes parallel and sometimes in opposite directions. That creates different qualities of intimacy, different scales and helps direct views across the site.”
Where Cut Out House’s mood shifts from intimate to expansive is marked by the seam of the butterfly roof, which runs diagonally across the home and flares up to direct one’s vision towards the back corner with its windows to the miraculous views.With such a striking site, maximising sightlines was always going to be a priority, but not all outlooks are treated in the same – or indeed, in the obvious – way. Full-height windows bring the mountain views into the living spaces and, where the living room meets the corner porch, minimise the divide between inside and out. Picture windows are carefully framed to take in exact slices of landscape – a spiky fringe of distant conifers in the dining room, for example, and a sculptural rock outcrop through a corner window in the primary bedroom.
The third type of notable aperture is in the curve of the front wall, which is punctuated by inhabitable window spaces. As Young explains, “You punch through the thickness of the wall and it’s almost like you’re occupying the poche of the wall, with a little window that overlooks the entry courtyard.”This wall, and the window recesses within it, are what give Cut Out House its name. The entry side of the house is defined by a concave curve – as precise as if made with a giant cookie cutter – which gently cups the entrance courtyard, creating a sense of intimacy and protection even before entering the home. This wall serves as the functional backbone of the structure as it houses the kitchen cabinetry and storage. It also includes three window perforations within the width of the wall, allowing them to be occupiable spaces. Lined with natural stone and complete with built-in seats, these ‘cut-outs’ are quiet moments where one can sit and appreciate the courtyard garden, which is a more tranquil and contained interpretation of the wilderness beyond.
The final cut-out is the porch, situated off the living and dining space. With columns placed discreetly back towards the body of the building and timber ceilings running from inside to out, the effect is as though the corner walls have been surgically sliced, leaving this elevated projection fully exposed to the landscape.The landscape inspired both the structure and materiality of the home, which is deliberately narrow, explains Young Projects’ partner Noah Marciniak. “There’s the concrete floor and the timber ceiling, and the vertical surfaces in the house very much follow those two primary materials,” he says. Subtly textured Venetian plaster walls follow the visual cues of the concrete. The timber panelled ceiling serves to help express the origami fold of the roof, then slips seamlessly from the interior to the exterior.
“It’s another way in which the interior pulls to the exterior, reinforcing the way your eye extends into the landscape from the inside,” says Young. The timber element is then echoed in the Accoya exterior cladding – a thermally modified pine chosen for its marked durability and longevity – and in the Scandinavian softness of ash, which is used in timber battens in the stairwell and as a veneer. While the concrete floors were a practical choice for a home with such a tightly woven connection to the outdoors, Marciniak adds that “the owners are self-professed Scandinavian design enthusiasts, so the narrowness and subtlety of the material palette was at least as much an aesthetic driver as it was a practical one”.Young further articulates the intention behind the palette. “It generates a soft and neutral interior that then emphasises how the exterior greenery and mountain-scapes will pop throughout the different seasons.” The interior is textural, warm and comforting, but as the landscape cycles through the seasons – from autumn glory to winter snows and the vivid wildflowers of summer – the focus remains where it should be: on the great outdoors.
Architecture by Young Projects
Landscape Design by Sundance Landscaping
Development by XYC Design Corp
Artwork by Jennifer Hornyak
Artwork by Kai Liu
Artwork supplied by Wallace Galleries
- 转载自：The Local Project
- 图片@The Local Project
- 语言：英语
- 编辑：序赞网
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