Lemon Scented Citriodora House by Seeley Architects

Seeley Architects have been designing beach houses in Anglesea, Victoria, Australia, for nigh on ten years now. The Citriodora House, featured here, is one of them, yet this doesn’t make it just any other house. Quite the contrary. The two-story wood-clad, stone-spined beauty was conceived as an adult’s version of a tree house – and it is all that, plus something more. It is located in a holiday hamlet, in an ambiance that is both rurally charming and replete with high-end architectural refinement. It sits right by the Great Ocean Road, whose windswept expanse inspired the house’s roofs: it rollicks and meanders much like the breeze among the branches of the local coastal vegetation. Inside, negative spaces are enclosed by battened window screens, while also allowing the inhabitant to get a clear view of sky, horizon and ocean, all in one fell visual swoop. Perfect comfort is ensured by impeccable sanitary ware, superb wooden flooring and light fixtures that punctuate and set the mood, without overloading it or drawing attention to themselves. The home’s exotic name draws it roots from the typical Australian coast landscape. ‘Citriodora’ is the scientific name of the lemon scented gums among which the building stands.

Seeley Architects, a “design-based architectural practice” believes in the environmental sustainability of the structures it produces. Aesthetically, their residential and commercial projects are characterized by unadorned exteriors and unpretentious detailing inside. The spaces thus created are inconspicuous canvases, upon which the residents map out their day-to-day activities without unnecessary inhibitions.

(Source: SeeleyArchitects.com.au)