Brutalist and modernist references unite in a house that challenges suburban living

Coy Yiontis Architects has completed Glenblaith, a single-storey concrete residence in Manifold Heights, Victoria, Australia, that blends brutalist and modernist references. Designed as a 'forever home' for a professional couple, the house features a smooth, geometric façade with a timber entry that acts as a moveable screen. The anchor of the home is a 4.8m oculus, nodding to midcentury design and the TWA Flight Center and John Lautner’s 1979 Hope Residence. The interior is divided into wings around a central atrium-courtyard with a lily pond. Unorthodox materials and small nooks, such as a bedroom alcove used as a desk and a window barricaded with a brick pattern, keep an element of surprise. The house is recessed from its fenceless boundary, contrasting with neighbouring pitched-roof homes, and is intended to challenge traditional suburban conventions.