6
Vision Magazine
A WAFER THIN, GRAPHITE ETCHED STEEL
FRAME AS PLATFORM AND BARELY VISIBLE
WALLS, DELIVER AN UNCANNILY POWERFUL,
YET LIGHTWEIGHT IMPACT.
M
atthew Woodward recalls long, hot summers
swimming in the cool, spring-fed lake at his
family’s beloved Wirra Willa. He could hardly
have anticipated how, just a few decades later,
he would make his own special mark at the 125-acre
property on the NSW central-coast. His design
for a lakeside pavilion for his father as client, simply
splices into the landscape.
Perhaps even more astonishing, it is 27 year-old
Woodward’s debut project straight from his master’s
course at architecture school. His sleek structure
defined by its glass veil, submits to its setting and
rises like few others in the process.
The theory goes, architects must attain a certain
age and experience before being trusted, or their
work taken seriously. Accepted wisdom says most
architects don’t peak until middle age, or later. It’s a
view Matthew Woodward doesn’t necessarily hold.
In Praise of Place
There’s nothing even remotely precocious
about this young practitioner with such a perceptive
eye for landscape, rather than grand design posture.
Tethered to shore at one end and sprung like
a diving-board at the other, the result is one
of exquisite counter-balance. A wafer thin,
graphite etched, steel frame as platform and
barely visible walls, deliver an uncannily powerful,
yet lightweight impact.
A sleek transparency achieved with oversized
Viridian glass walls allows a moveable feast of
sensory experience. Sliding walls edge the
landscape and water to allow cooling breezes,
birdsong and bush scents to effortlessly fill the
interior. Framed by towering native trees, verdant
sub-tropical bush and perfumed orange grove,
the pavilion sits quietly some 200 metres from
the main residence.