This March, PARCTA paid a visit to Practice.Ground.

Practice.Ground sits in the Capertee Valley, on Wiradjuri Country — a long hardwood house on a sloping hillside, three hours from Sydney, at the eastern edge of Wollemi National Park. Quiet, unhurried, and deliberately positioned.

Zachary Lopez and Phillip Wardle, who own and built the house, have a deep respect for the ground on which it is built — Wiradjuri Country.

The building reflects this: tactfully positioned, the hardwood exterior sitting honestly within the landscape. Designed by TRIAS architects and built by FabPrefab from cross-laminated timber, the home was completed in 2023.

Their care for Wiradjuri Country is ongoing: a native regeneration program continues across the twenty-acre site, and an artist residency is in development.

Quiet, architectural, grounded — the timber home sits inherently within the landscape; with a settled, enduring presence.

Practice.Ground and PARCTA share the same quiet conviction — that the things worth making take time, use honest materials, and are designed and built to remain.

Bringing PARCTA pieces into the house felt like a natural meeting — between structures of the same making.

Handcrafted in Australia from hand-finished aluminium, solid American Walnut timber and Japanese Kohzo rice paper, the Standard Lamp Collection adds restrained warmth to the space, sitting against the timber interior with a quiet material logic.

The rice paper shade diffuses warmth into the room; the walnut base meets the timber floor without effort. The Desk Lamp remains at the home.

The Flange Vase, styled with native branches from the region, holds its own against the cross-laminated timber interior — raw aluminium in contrast with various botanical forms, bringing Australia's native flora within the space.

The Flange Vase remains at the house, on the dining table.

The floorplan is modest and purposeful. Two bedrooms, one at each end of the plan, each with a private ensuite. The living spaces in the centre open generously toward the valley.

With smoothed, architectural forms — the Gadroon side tables collection reads differently in this setting. Against timber walls and a valley beyond the glass, the anodised aluminium adds an intriguing material contrast.

The Plinth in the lounge room, the Coffee Table at the centre of the sitting area, the Bedside Table in the main bedroom — each piece finds its home within the space, as though they have always been there.

Three hours from Sydney, past the Blue Mountains and into the Capertee Valley. Practice.Ground is available to book via Airbnb.

In a world that builds quickly, Zach and Phil are doing something rarer. They have been tending this land for over a decade — building slowly, with intention, on ground they deeply respect.

Practice.Ground is the result.