Sally Draper Architects has created a groundbreaking residential design that challenges conventional thinking about human habitation by intentionally incorporating spaces for wildlife coexistence. The Apple House, located within Melbourne's Mornington Peninsula, represents a bold architectural experiment in multi-generational living that welcomes both human inhabitants and local wildlife species into a shared living environment.
Situated within a leafy residential compound surrounded by rolling farmland, the compact dwelling serves as a companion structure to an existing Alistair Knox residence. The property, which houses landscape architect John Patrick and his extended family, sits within an old apple orchard that gave the house its name. The design philosophy centers on the idea that houses naturally host various creatures including possums, birds, mice, and spiders, and explores how purposeful coexistence can enhance the architectural experience.
The positioning of the Apple House followed an unconventional design process where the landscape plan preceded the architectural design. Sally Draper explains that this approach informed the building's placement on the edge of a new mud brick wall that runs along the perimeter of the central courtyard garden shared with the main Knox residence. The landscape plan curates various outdoor rooms and garden spaces, creating a seamless integration between built and natural environments.
The house adopts a distinctive gabled tower form that both distinguishes itself from Knox's design while echoing the verticality of a tall spotted gum tree visible from the dwelling's two timber decks on the north side. The architectural metaphor extends to the recessed, honey-toned timber entry on the courtyard side, which Draper describes as "a precise incision into the black-stained cladding" that resembles a cut through rough tree bark. This design element creates a visual connection between the built structure and the natural environment.
Inside the dwelling, red brick paving at the threshold continues throughout the interior, mirroring the flooring of the Knox residence and creating visual continuity between the structures. The entry guides visitors to a study retreat and library, followed by a bathroom and guest bedroom at the end of the hall. Despite builder concerns about attracting insects, the walls feature textural hessian fabric at the client's insistence, extending the warm hues of the floors and timber ceilings into what Draper describes as a "delightfully sensory palette."
The upper level showcases the house's adaptability with a bunk room and balcony designed for various theatrical performances by grandchildren. The deck floor includes an access hatch for when children grow old enough to climb up from below, demonstrating the building's evolution with its young inhabitants. A ladder leads through a void to the dwelling's gabled attic, where two additional bunk beds and a shared loft are secured by hand-knotted rope, creating a treehouse-like atmosphere within the home's canopy.
The most innovative feature of the Apple House is its deliberate accommodation of wildlife through a bird-nesting box recessed into the southern wall of the loft. This refuge can be observed through a periscope, creating an educational opportunity for human inhabitants. While the intended inhabitant, the Australian boobook owl, has not yet taken residence, John Patrick notes that a family of crimson rosellas has appreciated the gesture and successfully raised their brood in the space.
The Apple House demonstrates how architectural design can embrace flexibility and inclusivity, creating spaces that evolve with their inhabitants whether human or non-human. The project celebrates what Draper calls "the architectural richness that can flourish from shared experience," proving that thoughtful design can create environments where multiple species coexist harmoniously. This simple yet sensorial approach to architecture offers a model for future residential design that considers the broader ecosystem rather than just human needs.
