Through the old sawmill shed, the jury is escorted up a steep old steel-gridded ramp covered in blackberries, to meet the architect’s brother and client and to stand on a tower overlooking the site: “This is the best view of it.” And this is where the bird’s-eye view resonates.
The Sawmill House is one of understated brilliance, read from above as a long rectangular block, hugging the landform at its rear and flat-roofed with what appears to be a sliding roof section. A long timber-boarded verandah runs parallel to the rectangular house form and in front, the site drops away into what looks like an old dug-out pit. From above, one can see that there is a void behind the house, also dug out from a rear earth mound and lined with the same concrete blocks from which the house is constructed. Is this an ancient site, a ruin or an old quarry?