Shaun Lockyer Architects
Dilkera by Shaun Lockyer Architects Issue 12 Feature
Seven-and-a-half years in the making, Dilkera by Shaun Lockyer Architects has emerged to tell the story of Australian architecture’s evolution. Conceived at a time when touching the earth lightly was still very much a favoured approach, Dilkera embraced an emerging preference for solidity, which anchors it to its location on the banks of the Brisbane River with an abiding sense of permanence.
Brutalist Riverside House
Dilkera is a three-storey home in Brisbane that replaces an old house to face west toward the river and city skyline. Designed by Shaun Lockyer Architects, it combines brutalism with subtropical modernism using concrete, glass, timber, and river stone. The name means “edge” or “shore,” reflecting its riverside setting. The design avoids ornament, emphasising material honesty and a strong connection to the landscape.
Dilkera Water Rhythm
Inside Dilkera, shadow and light filter through vertical timber screening, honed marble floors echo the river’s patterns, and black‑stained rosewood joinery pairs with stone benchtops to mediate between brutalist minimalism and the water’s meditative rhythm. The home seamlessly unites interior, exterior, landscaping and decor through invisible thresholds, while extensive glazing constantly reframes views that anchor every design decision back to the site’s context and the ancient story of the land.
Dilkera Entertaining Light
Other than its physical accommodations, Dilkera is a house for entertaining, a place where grandchildren will race beneath rays of sunlight into soaring volumes where light is filtered through the botanical veil on the home’s periphery then through the woven materiality of pendant lights, which echo the brackish riverbed.
