Treetops was designed by the late architect Bruce Rickard, and it is located in Cottage Point, a small suburb of Sydney, Australia. The cozy home’s interior possesses rustic elements, such as stone walls and exposed ceiling beams, giving the atmosphere a touch of warmth. The buildings were connected by an entry porch and stairway, giving a lovely sense of separation between the zones. It’s a house that works beautifully for family life, human in scale and with a balance of open spaces and private areas. It’s also a house in which, although close to the city, life can begin to feel like a holiday – walking straight from the bedrooms to a terrace or having dinner on the covered verandah, you feel a million miles from anywhere; sitting in the living area, all you can see are trees and the water. Equally, with the built-in seating running the length of the living area, and the ease of access between inside and out, it’s a house that is brilliant for parties – unsurprising, given Bruce Rickard was one of the most sociable people you could imagine. “You could have 100 people there so easily without moving a piece of furniture,” says Genevieve Furzer. The living pavilion is surprisingly adaptable, a space that takes on a different character at different times of the day and night, and under different conditions. It’s closed on two sides – the side facing the street, for privacy, as well as on the south-west side. In the centre of the room is a monumental stone fireplace which, in essence, divides the room into the “night living area”, as Bruce Rickard described it, “in a rather closed space on the southern end” with the far more open kitchen, dining and verandah area at the other.”
