Inspired by MK27’s ‘Ipes House’, the design of the Macdonald House aims to adopt modern brutalist properties in a functional and simplistic manner. The design of the Macdonald House evolved in response to creating an open, light filled family home, while maintaining privacy on the exposed, corner site. The aim was to generate an organic and striking figure that utilises materials in their essence without manipulation. The character of the residence is generated by the inclusion of an off-form concrete body that dramatically cantilevers over the underlying living spaces. Concrete is utilised throughout the upper volume, creating the illusion of floating atop the delicate glass form below. Fixed timber-look aluminum batten screens create privacy and shield the four upper level bedrooms from the northern sunlight that fills the living spaces below. The thin battens simultaneously serve to soften the robust concrete texture and generate neat lines to extenuate the height of the structure. Feature stone blade walls enhance the privacy of the internal living space that seamlessly connect to the external alfresco. The light-filled living areas are accompanied by a linear pool that elongates the landscape. The landscaping was kept to an understated palette with small ground coverings, to then exaggerated by a mature dragon tree at the corner of the site.
This duplex was completed in July 2019 but, the story started when we were approached by a couple of “Mum and dad” investors who had acquired the site to build a home for themselves and another to rent or sell, with the possibility of selling both. They described themselves as “nearly-empty nesters looking to downsize” and wanted to develop for that market. The site was on a corner and at 552 sqm, not large. It was constrained by a sandstone retaining wall on one street frontage and a small landscaped road reserve at the end of the other street, forming a view corridor for surrounding properties. The area had been steep,rocky terrain until around the 1930’s to 40’s with much of the housing of that era still intact, the existing duplex on there being typical. The rear of the site had an easement for power lines and a large native tree which had to be retained. The property beyond was a three story dwelling with multiple windows.
The project involved major internal renovations to the back half of a single storey federation terrace, and the addition of a second storey bedroom and bathroom.
The form of the extensions can be read as two plywood boxes, detailed to have a furniture like quality. One, the bedroom, sits astride the existing masonry house and overlooks the rear laneway. The other, the bathroom, is interlocked into the larger box and is propped on an extension of the party wall and a single round steel column.
The Panopticon House project is a hybrid of modernist and classical rural villa ideals, exploring the house as figured object versus the disappearing enclosure. Located in rural Victoria, on a prominent hilltop with panoramic views across the surrounding landscape, the Great Southern Ocean, Bass Strait and the Tasman Ocean. The site and program recall the classical villa however a key element of the client brief was to minimize interruption to the views of the surrounding landscape. The house was in effect to become a device for seeing out – a ‘Panopticon’, whose primary function was that of observation.
Jeremy Bentham’s original 18th century Panopticon has been used as a model for a wide range of institutional buildings, including the reading room of the Victorian State library. However, was latter criticized by Michel Foucault and others as mechanism for manifesting and reinforcing power imbalances. In the context however, the relationship between the observer/observed, is that between architecture/landscape, emphasizing the potential of architecture as a device for seeing. This desire recalls the Farnsworth house, itself arguably a continuation of the classical villa tradition – however with the critical departure of the introduction of the ‘free plan’ into the villa type and the ambition of dissolving the relationship between interiority and exteriority. Located on the highest point on the site, the Panopticon House adopts these strategies, elongating and folding the free plan back on itself to provide panoramic views in all directions, while capturing a central courtyard providing shelter from prevailing winds on the exposed site.
The new Les Wilson Barramundi Discovery Centre ( LWBDC ) is located on the edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria town of Karumba, population 600 . Conceptually, the design derives from consideration of local conditions, simple plan and structure, and the barramundi. Primarily, the building will be used to tell the story of the southern gulf barramundi to visitors, and is associated with an existing hatchery. However, other functions are also planned.
Longfellow Terraces are an example of what the often-discussed “Missing Middle” could look like in Brisbane – a sustainable infill-development for sensitive densification of inner-city suburbs. Inserting additional dwellings dwellings into existing infrastructure allows more people to enjoy the qualities of these precincts rather than adding to the urban sprawl.
Inspired by the way in which ancient people used to live under trees for protection from the elements, the design genuinely connects the entire living floor to the landscape by providing sheltered and unobstructed spaces that are truly in touch with nature.
This project is a new building for the School of Biological Sciences, located in the protected native landscape “Jock Marshall Reserve” at Monash University’s Clayton campus.
The building forms a new gateway to the JMR Reserve from College Walk, which accesses the Monash Halls of Residence. The main internal space is a laboratory for collaborative learning about the environment, the science of plants and animals.
Project: Monash University Biological Sciences Laboratory
Location: College Way, Biological Science Building, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Clayton VIC 3800, Australia
Photography: Hyatt Gallery, Jonathan Hadiprawira, Marty Turnbull, Rhiannon Slatter
Software used: Autocad, SketchUp, V-Ray
Client: Monash University (Clayton Campus)
Architectural – Philip Harmer (Director), Holly Wort (Project Architect), Andrew Briant (Architectural Project Manager), Ella Blutman (Graduate of Architecture)
It’s no secret that everyone covets corner apartments. More light and better views, right? Well, not so with Abode318, our new Melbourne CBD residential apartment tower, where everyone gets a view: it’s democracy in action! Look closely at the wave-like 55 storey form and you will realise that each of the horizontal and vertical waves consist of individual rooms articulated as protrusions, creating the effect of a set of drawers pulled out at random.
These drawers gives residents the chance to give their home an individual identity as well as coveted corner views up and down Russell Street, challenging conceptions of the homogeneity and limitations of apartment living. Each apartment has a presentation to the street, creating a collection of variably expressed individuals.
Situated on a sloping site in the leafy inner-city suburb of Paddington in Brisbane, Onyx is grounded on a modest 404 metre square lot that is characteristic of the local area. Despite the moderately small sized parcel of land on which it sits, the dwelling feels much more generous when experienced from an internal perspective. The sloping nature of the site also posed a challenge throughout the design and build of the project.
Article source: Zaha Hadid Architects and Cox Architecture
This morning it was announced that Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA; London, UK) and Cox Architecture (COX; Sydney, NSW) have won the international design competition for the new Western Sydney Airport (WSA) and been appointed as Master Architect for the project. The ZHA/COX team was selected from a broad field of forty national and international applicants that was narrowed to five selected design competitors.
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