A striking seven-bedroom holiday home on Australia's Mornington Peninsula has earned recognition as a 2025 Houses Award finalist, blending brutalist architecture with ancient design inspirations. House on a Hill, designed by Leeton Pointon Architects in collaboration with Allison Pye Interiors, sits on more than 200 square meters of land in Bunurong Country, Victoria, offering sweeping views of rolling hills and Western Port Bay.
The project began with an empty paddock, according to Michael Leeton, director at Leeton Pointon Architects. "We spent a lot of time walking around, working out what it needed," Leeton explained. Drawing inspiration from the Pyramids of Giza and India's stepwells, he aimed to create a structure that feels both ancient and contemporary. "There's a sense of archaeology to it, as if it's always been there and was dug out of the ground," he noted.
Facing the peninsula's harsh weather conditions, including hot summers and cold, wet winters, the design team chose to work with the environment rather than against it. The primary building material is weather-resistant concrete, paying homage to brutalist architecture and renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The curved concrete walls create three internal courtyards, allowing residents to find sheltered outdoor spaces regardless of wind conditions.
One of the home's most distinctive features came about through an innovative construction technique aimed at reducing waste. The team eliminated traditional formwork and instead sprayed concrete walls directly, creating a stippled surface reminiscent of abandoned churches and secret caves. "We got rid of all the formwork – the unsustainable part – and sprayed the concrete walls on," Leeton explained. This method resulted in towering, pockmarked walls that add unexpected texture to the brutalist design.
Second-hand bagged bricks serve as the other primary material, chosen for their growing popularity and ability to develop beautiful patina over time. "The house will age over time. We wanted to celebrate that, not shy away from it," Leeton said. "To me, sustainability is about designing a house that lasts the test of time." The interior spaces feature Italian furniture, including Paola Lenti's woven armchairs and Gervasoni's concrete side tables, creating sophisticated gathering areas within the courtyards.
Flexibility was a key requirement for the owners, who needed spaces that could accommodate both intimate stays and large gatherings. "A lot of the time it's just two people here. There are parts of the house you can close off from use, heating or cooling," Leeton noted. However, during entertaining season, the home can accommodate up to 40 guests. Working with interior designer Allison Pye, the team created adaptable furniture pieces, including a long timber table and a stately curved sofa in off-white.
The living room serves as perhaps the most tranquil space, featuring a sunken lounge, freestanding fireplace, and a remarkable domed concrete ceiling. This rare roof design references the cult 1960s Futuro UFO houses by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen and presented the project's biggest construction challenge. The team worked with LBA Construction to install a binishell, a concrete structure of Italian origin that Leeton compares to "a blow-up balloon."
The binishell technique, commonly used for grain silos but rarely employed in Australian residential construction, involves inflating a plastic form and spraying concrete against it from the inside. "You get this plastic form and blow it up. Then you get inside and spray the concrete against the plastic," Leeton explained. "It was fascinating to use it in a high-end architectural finish," he added, noting the rarity of this application in coastal holiday homes.
Thoughtful design details seamlessly connect the interior spaces to the surrounding landscape. Strategically placed skylights pour natural light into rooms, creating luminous circles that move across floors as the day progresses. "It's a nice, meditative element measuring the slow moving of time, which we thought was appropriate for a holiday house," Leeton observed. A dedicated reading nook overlooks native grasses, ensuring that even when cocooned inside, residents maintain a connection to the natural environment.
The landscape design, developed in collaboration with leading garden designer Paul Bangay, emphasizes the passage of seasons through carefully selected plantings. Towering oak trees and mature olive trees anchor the site, while clusters of perennials, including purple patches of black adder and neutral native grasses, change colors throughout the year. "When you go up in winter, the vegetation is dry and sparse," Leeton noted. "In spring, it all grows up. And in summer, it's in full bloom." This seasonal transformation provides another way for residents to mark the passage of time during their retreats to this unique brutalist sanctuary on the Mornington Peninsula.
