Moat's Corner south elevation

Moat’s Corner is a house inspired by history, nature and modernist design.

The house was named after the pioneers who first occupied the rural site on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula. The settlers planted a number of gnarled cypress trees, added to by the next occupier of the site, who spent 70 years cultivating and collecting plants, resulting in a diverse array of flora across five acres of the 53-acre site.

Moat's Corner garden

The new house is an attempt to frame this history, assisted by modernist-inspired design.

Responding to the ‘moat’ concept, the main level of the house is elevated, observing the garden. Sitting at mid-canopy height, the glazed walls clearly take in and reflect the green surrounds. Meanwhile, a deep, continual eave line shields the home from hot summer sun and takes in the warming winter sun.

Moat's Corner interior

The home features a completely cantilevered bedroom wing which speaks to the home’s mid-century modernist ethos of honesty to materials, structural innovation and minimal ornamentation. The wing looks out onto the landscaped poolside, while allowing vegetation to live under and around the structure with minimal disturbance.

There is also a self-contained guest wing with its own outlook to the east, looking out towards rural paddocks where cattle graze.

Moat's Corner glazing

A raised roof structure allows ventilation and easterly light into the space, rumpus room and centralised amenities.

Above all, the home honours the garden, which is deemed equally important as the actual structure.