Shawood

Commissioned by Hoyne Design for Sekisui House Australia, October 2023. Gledswood Hills, on the outskirts of Sydney. A townhouse shaped by the Japanese design language Sekisui carries globally.

Working with a larger production crew. Each angle was mapped in pre-production against the sun—working out where light would land, and when it would sit within the narrative.

The brief crystallised around a single image. Late afternoon, seated at a dining table with three from Hoyne, flipping through references. A photograph of a family at a meal. Everything was built from there. A day in the life. Beginning with breakfast, then following each person through the house as the light changed.

The west light held. Late afternoon, golden and low, cutting through the trees and across timber and brick. Shadows from the eucalyptus stretch sharply across the facade. The moment that held it together came at dusk. Golden light through eucalyptus, shadows cutting clean across the facade. Pushed further in the grade, but already there.

Music came later—Debussy's Arabesque No. 1, inspired by how Baz Luhrmann had dissected it in an advertisement.