Roxborough House

From the outside, The Roxborough House appears to be a rather typical three-storey, late-nineteenth/early-twentieth century detached brick house, complete with its wide wooden veranda. Once inside, however, the narrative of silence and stillness begins to reveal itself.

Our approach for this project was to ‘hollow out’ the centre of the house from top to bottom. This would then create ‘two houses’, front and back, which join at the central courtyard. The middle of the courtyard is marked by a long dining table opposite the double, half-elliptical staircase, which resembles a wisp of curling smoke or a twisting torso.

The Roxborough house is predominantly finished in white. This may seem odd given abundance of Farrow Partners projects that privilege wood in order to produce a warm environment. However, the ephemeral quality of the back-painted glass in the courtyard captures the changing light conditions, becoming a moody, swirling canvas of multihued foliage or blue, pink, and grey skies. One then becomes aware of the changing light and senses the shift in colour and atmospheric conditions. As a result, one feels connected to nature, becoming aware of day transitioning into night, or summer into fall.