Some homes are built to impress you. Coolbardie House was built to change how you live.
Designed by de Rome Architects and voted People's Choice at the 2020 ACT Architecture Awards, it began with a simple brief: not more space, but better space, a home that would hold its owners gently within the landscape.
From the street, Coolbardie reads as calm and low: a simple white metal form that sits confidently without needing to announce itself. Step inside and the palette deepens. Navy blue, the colour of a Canberra sky at dusk, wraps the heart of the home and gives it the feeling of being held, a quiet shelter after the brightness of the day.
This is architecture written for Canberra's frosty winters and dry summers. The house faces north, and in winter the sun pours across an insulated concrete slab that holds its warmth well into the evening. Double-glazed windows in thermally broken PVC frames keep that warmth in, and twin-layered honeycomb blinds add insulation without surrendering the view. When the seasons turn, Mitsubishi Electric ducted inverter air conditioning and remote-controlled ceiling fans stand by, but for much of the year the house simply looks after itself.
Life here gathers around the central living, dining and kitchen, framed in those deep blue tones. At one end, the kitchen is made for both the quiet coffee for one and the long, loud dinner for many, with room to move around and space to linger. An Omega induction cooktop, whisper-quiet rangehood, Smeg oven and Asko dishwasher make it powerfully capable. Generous storage flows through to a laundry tucked neatly out of sight.
The dining and living areas open to the main deck and extensive native gardens through large-scale glazing on three sides, so the landscape becomes the room's fourth wall. Alongside, a lockable study with a built-in desk and joinery joins the living space when you need it and closes away when the workday is done.
At the rear of the home, the main bedroom is perfectly sized and private, with its own deck for the first coffee of the morning. A large walk-in robe with custom joinery leads to the ensuite, where deep blue feature tiles continue the home's palette. There are deliberately no glass screens here, just an open, easy shower and nothing to squeegee.
The second bedroom is a self-contained guest retreat with a separate entry, its own bathroom, a dedicated car space and a private balcony. Visiting family and friends can come and go freely, and no one ever feels like a houseguest. It's privacy, built in rather than tacked on.
Double-glazed sliding and double doors, fitted with Phantom retractable screens, open onto decks and outdoor living. Light shifts across the native plantings through the day, the vegetable beds offer something new each season, a 5,000-litre rainwater tank quietly waters it all. The waterwise garden asks little of you and gives back far more.
Here, the future was considered as carefully as the present, from timber blocking set into the bathroom walls for future safety rails to back-to-base security and a Termimesh termite barrier. The double garage includes workbench space and storage.
Coolbardie House offers a different idea of home. It listens to its land and its climate, lives lightly, and treats the landscape as part of the home. This is what an Australian home should be: rarely built, even more rarely offered, and not a square-metre proposition, but a redefining of what home can truly be.
Features:
• North-facing design; the sun warms the insulated concrete slab
• Insulation throughout to the original energy efficiency specification
• Double-glazed windows with PVC thermal-break frames: tilt-and-turn, fly screens to all
• Double-glazed sliding and double doors with Phantom retractable fly screens
• Twin-layered honeycomb blinds (top-down/bottom-up) to all windows
• Mitsubishi Electric ducted inverter air conditioning
• Remote-controlled ceiling fans to bedrooms
• Underfloor heating to both bathrooms
• Sanden heat pump hot water, 250L tank
• Programmable instant hot water pump
• 5,000L rainwater tank with leaf and bug screening
• Waterwise native garden and vegetable beds
• Omega induction cooktop with whisper rangehood
• Smeg oven
• Asko built-in dishwasher
• Lockable study with built-in desk and shelving
• Built-in cupboards throughout
• Separate entry to second bedroom, private bathroom, dedicated car space and private balcony
• Double garage, space for workbench and storage
• Back-to-base alarm: 4 independent zones, battery backup, 4G connection
• Lockable side gates
• External sensor lights
• Termimesh termite barrier
• Timber blocking pre-installed in bathrooms for future safety rails
• Garden shed
FINE DETAILS (all approximate):
Living size: 137m2 (approx) plus 45m2 Garage
Land Parcel: 781m2 (approx)
EER: 6
Additional 7.8 star energy certification
Build year: 2019
Rates: $4,182.63 pa (approx)
UV: $648,000 (2026)
Disclaimer: The information contained in this advertisement is derived from sources we deem reliable. However, we cannot provide any guarantees or warranties regarding the information supplied. Any references to rates, land tax or other statutory charges are indicative only and have been calculated in good faith using publicly available information. Some images may have been virtually styled for marketing and illustrative purposes only. Buyers are encouraged to conduct and rely exclusively on their own enquiries.
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