Horseshoe Hill Jager Build is an award winning Queensland residence set high on a ridge at Bald Knob in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Designed by Joe Adsett Architects and brought to life by Jager Build, the extraordinary horseshoe-shaped home has been recognised with both Queensland Master Builders House of the Year honours and the 2025 HIA Sunshine Coast & Wide Bay Home of the Year, awards that speak to its scale, construction complexity and the emotional story behind it.
At its heart, Horseshoe Hill is a story of family, faith and fortitude. It is a monumental home in every sense, yet its purpose was never about grandeur for the sake of it. For owners Gary and Lorilie, the vision was far more personal. They wanted to create a place that could bring together their children, grandchildren and future generations, while also honouring the land, the life they had built, and the things that matter most to them.
Horseshoe Hill Jager Build Quick Facts
Horseshoe Hill is located at Bald Knob in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland and was designed by Joe Adsett Architects. Built by Jager Build, the residence spans approximately 950sqm of living space and is supported by more than 100 concrete piers, with over 600 cubic metres of concrete used in its construction. The home’s defining feature is its sweeping horseshoe-shaped concrete form, created in response to the owners’ lifelong passion for racehorses and their desire for a home that felt deeply personal.
The project has received major industry recognition, including Queensland Master Builders House of the Year honours and the 2025 HIA Sunshine Coast & Wide Bay Home of the Year. It is a residence shaped by family, landscape, craftsmanship and a highly individual brief.
A Bald Knob Home Inspired by Family and Racehorses
For owners Gary and Lorilie, this was never about building a grand house or something driven by ego. It was about creating a place that could bring together family, children, grandchildren and future generations, and celebrate the things that matter most. After a health scare for Lorilie, the couple decided it was time to transform their much-loved family farmhouse, a place filled with memories, but a little dark, prone to damp and no longer suited to their growing brood. With ten grandchildren, they envisioned something brighter, warmer and more accommodating, a home where everyone could come together, stay comfortably and continue building memories for generations. That vision became the driving force behind what is now one of Queensland’s most remarkable private homes.
The property takes its name and spirit from the family’s lifelong connection with racehorses. Having owned and bred many successful horses, Gary and Lorilie wanted that passion reflected in the architecture in a way that felt meaningful rather than decorative. The defining architectural gesture is a sweeping concrete curve shaped like a horseshoe, separating the two wings of the home and giving the residence both its identity and sense of movement across the site.
Joe Adsett Architects and the Horseshoe Hill Design
The architectural response by Joe Adsett Architects gives Horseshoe Hill its strength and clarity. The horseshoe form is not simply a visual idea. It helps organise the home into distinct wings, creates protected outdoor areas and opens the residence to the vast hinterland views. From one side, the home feels bold and linear; from another, the curve softens the building and draws the eye across the landscape.
Set on an exposed 23-acre site, the residence needed a material language that could withstand the elements while settling naturally into the surrounding bushland over time. Off-form concrete was chosen for the foundations and shell, giving the home the strength required for the site while allowing for large openings that capture the views. More than 100 concrete piers were drilled into the earth to support the substantial structure, with over 600 cubic metres of concrete used across the build.
Inside the Horseshoe Hill Residence
One wing of the home houses the main bedroom suite, where walls of glass frame breathtaking hinterland views. Behind it is Gary’s Racing Room, a private den that feels intimate, masculine and layered with warmth and texture. On the opposite side, Gull Design has crafted a kitchen that is both beautiful and highly functional, a space where the family naturally gravitates during meal preparation. Flooded with light and centred around an expansive island bench long enough for almost everyone to pull up a seat, the kitchen features Gaggenau appliances and has been finished with warm timber veneer cabinetry and brass accents that create an atmosphere that feels intimate and luxurious despite its generous size. Enormous sliding glass doors open the kitchen to the covered alfresco and barbecue area, where the edge of the home seems to dissolve into the horizon and connect with the spectacular hinterland views.
The main living area captures the balance of grandeur and intimacy that defines Horseshoe Hill. A six-metre-high void brings natural light into the space, while a dramatic stone-clad wall rises through the centre, giving the interiors texture, weight and permanence. One side of the wall houses the fireplace; on the other, a floating staircase of cantilevered timber treads supported by brass rods leads to the upper level beneath a skylight and timber-lined ceiling. Stone and timber from Gowan Lea Timbers bring an organic quality throughout, connecting the contemporary structure to its rural setting.
Despite its monumental scale, Horseshoe Hill feels grounded and human. That balance owes much to Lorilie’s influence, her passion for interiors and art, and her intuitive sense of colour, which inspired the decision to tint the exposed concrete in a warm pine nut hue. This removed the grey, industrial feel often associated with concrete homes. Instead, a subtle warmth moves through the interiors, bringing the structure’s strength and scale into harmony with the family story at its centre.
Upstairs, four bedrooms, each with their own ensuite, carry through the home’s refined palette while still allowing each room to have its own character. Every space feels intentional and personal, none more so than the bunk room, designed to sleep fifteen. It is a joyful expression of what this home is truly about: family, laughter and shared memories.
Jager Build and the Craftsmanship Behind Horseshoe Hill
The construction of Horseshoe Hill demanded exceptional precision from Jager Build. The curved concrete roof, extensive glazing, recessed lighting, cedar panelling, stonework and structural detailing all required careful coordination across trades. On a site of this scale and exposure, every element had to be planned, sequenced and executed with accuracy.
Most remarkably, despite the complexity of the project, Horseshoe Hill was completed two months ahead of schedule. At the centre of that achievement was Hunter Thomas, Director of Jager Build, whose personal dedication helped drive the project forward. Determined to oversee the build closely, Hunter slept on site four nights a week with his dog Hugo, ensuring that each stage of construction received the attention it required.
That level of commitment is visible throughout the finished home. Horseshoe Hill feels ambitious, but not overworked. The craftsmanship supports the architecture and allows the emotional heart of the home to come through.
Award Winning Recognition for Horseshoe Hill Jager Build
The recognition received by Horseshoe Hill reflects both the architectural ambition of the project and the quality of Jager Build’s execution. Awards including Queensland Master Builders House of the Year recognition and the 2025 HIA Sunshine Coast & Wide Bay Home of the Year place the project among Queensland’s most significant custom homes.
For Jager Build, Horseshoe Hill demonstrates the capability required to deliver a technically complex, architecturally ambitious residence on a challenging hinterland site. For Joe Adsett Architects, it shows how a highly personal brief can become a powerful architectural form without losing its emotional centre.
Why Horseshoe Hill Stands Out Among Queensland Custom Homes
Horseshoe Hill stands apart because it could only belong to this family, this site and this story. The horseshoe form, the Racing Room, the bunk room, the warm concrete, the vast kitchen and the way the home opens to the hinterland all speak to the lives of the people who created it.
It is also a reminder of what makes a custom home so different from a standard luxury build. A true custom home is not simply larger or more expensive. It is shaped around the people who will live there, the land it occupies, the memories it is designed to hold and the future it is intended to support.
In Horseshoe Hill, Jager Build and Joe Adsett Architects have delivered a home of remarkable scale and technical difficulty, but its greatest achievement is not only in the concrete, the awards or the architecture. It is in the way the home feels: strong, generous, personal and ready to hold generations of family life.
Images: Cameron Murchison
For Gary and Lorilie the process of creating Horseshoe Hill was much more than just building a house, it offered something profound – a sense of purpose, optimism and renewal during a difficult time following Lorilie’s health scare and an opportunity to create a family legacy. They could not be more thrilled with the outcome.
“We hit the jackpot with Hunter Thomas, who assembled a great team of craftsmen. The success of this build is really due to those who were involved.”
Says Gary
Horseshoe Hill really is an architectural triumph – a place where emotion, craftsmanship and technical mastery converge. Every element created with purpose and with care, shaped by family and love and destined to bring people together for generations to come.
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