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Australian Residential Architecture and Design

MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS Homes that find harmony between old and new

ISSUE 145 $12.95

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At a Glance

From the Editor Musings

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Contributors

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Fresh finds Products

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Colour me curious Products

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The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 130 Postscript A future-focused exhibition hosts more than 150 individual artists from 30 countries in the Asia Pacific region.

44 Working with an Architect Sunrise Studio Simone and David’s brief to Bark Architects began with a sketch of a tree house.

One to Watch Taro Studio

Studio Skeehan Studio

This Sydney practice designs homes for a simple way of life, in tune with nature’s rhythms.

The work of this Canberra studio melds rigorous research with intelligent design.

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First House Cumulus Studio

In Profile YSG Studio

Revisited Fisher House by Alistair Knox

Cumulus Studio co-founder Todd Henderson reflects on the studio’s first house, built on a former tennis court.

YSG Studio’s distinctive work amplifies the emotive potential of residential design by rebuffing architectural minimalism.

This 1970 house by Alistair Knox has been sensitively updated to retain its celebration of the unique Australian light.

AT A GLANCE

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From tree canopies to suburban streetscapes, the sites for this diverse collection of houses give rise to inventive and reposeful homes.

20 Stable House

by Sibling Architecture

28 Fitzroy North House

by Figureground Architecture

Sunrise Studio

by Bark Architects

New House Sydney, NSW

Alteration + Addition Melbourne, Vic

Secondary Dwelling Tinbeerwah, Qld

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54 Autumn House

by Studio Bright

Phoenix House

by Harley Graham Architects

Yarra Bend House

by Austin Maynard Architects

Alteration + Addition Melbourne, Vic

Alteration + Addition Byron Bay, NSW

Alteration + Addition Melbourne, Vic

88 Esplanade House

by Clare Cousins Architects

96 Marrickville Laneway House

by Studio Weave Architects

New House Melbourne, Vic

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Alteration + Addition Sydney, NSW

CONTENTS

104 Jimmy’s House

by MJA Studio with Studio Roam and Iota New House Perth, WA

Musings

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This issue of Houses features stories about familiar housing types – from the Queenslander to the Victorian terrace and the semidetached cottage – that have been revitalized with inventive new layers that sit in harmony with the original. In Studio Bright’s Autumn House (cover and page 54), a confident addition grafted onto a Melbourne terrace is a cohesive new chapter for this storied home. In Harley Graham Architects’ Phoenix House (page 62), a dilapidated Queenslander is dismantled and its parts salvaged, enabling a joyous home to rise from the ashes.

A continuity with built history is paired with a strong desire for familial connection in Sibling Architecture’s Stable House (page 20). This new home, built within the vestiges of a brick stable, is part of an ongoing project to establish a home for a multigenerational family.

Respectful companionship between old and new is evident in Bark Architects’ Sunrise Studio (page 36). This efficient, modular structure draws on the lessons of its precedent – a 1983 Quadropod house by Gabriel Poole – and offers its inhabitants a meaningful and sustainable connection to people and place.

Alexa Kempton, editor

01 What was modern life in South Australia like in the boom years following World War II? Lust for Lifestyle: Modern Adelaide Homes 1950–1965, an exhibition at the State Library of South Australia, delves into the evolution of modernist residential design in the state, when a new generation of homeowners – drawn to the pleasures of everyday life – sought to express themselves through modern architecture.

The exhibition includes houses by local architects including Dickson and Platten, John S. Chappel and Lawson Cheesman and Doley, among others. At the State Library Gallery until 5 June.

Image: Robert Clark House (1961) by John S. Chappel.

Image courtesy of State Library of South Australia. slsa.sa.gov.au

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03 Be inspired by the pioneering work of Jørn Utzon in a series of workshops at the Sydney Opera House. The four-part Architecture Club series includes “Housing Utzon” (25 June), in which participants will learn about Utzon’s designs for his own houses in Mallorca and Copenhagen, as well as his love for Pittwater in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Image courtesy of Sydney Opera House. sydneyoperahouse.com

Write to us at houses@archmedia.com.au Subscribe Print: architecturemedia.com Newsletter: architectureau.com/ newsletters_list Find us @housesmagazine

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02 Place, in any city, is not a static thing. Making Place: 100 Views of Brisbane explores the ever-changing city at a crucial point in its urban evolution.

Presenting more than 100 historical and contemporary depictions of the Brisbane region, the exhibition prompts visitors to consider what makes a place, which sites are significant and for whom, and the role of memories.

Artwork: Paul Davies, Centenary Pool Brisbane, Museum of Brisbane Collection.

Courtesy of the artist. museumofbrisbane.com.au

MUSINGS

MAXI SLIDING PANELS, SELF BOLD CABINET. DESIGN GIUSEPPE BAVUSO

Rimadesio Showroom Sydney 1D Danks Street Waterloo NSW 2017 info@pureinteriors.com.au Rimadesio Showroom Melbourne 1114 High Street Armadale 3143 VIC melbourne@pureinteriors.com.au rimadesio.com

Contributors Editor Alexa Kempton Editorial enquiries Alexa Kempton T: +61 3 8699 1000 houses@archmedia.com.au

Jack Lovel Photographer

Penny Craswell Writer

Jack Lovel is an architectural photographer based in Melbourne but often found photographing projects in his home town of Perth.

For the past five years, he has been documenting the architectural legacy of Iwan Iwanoff, culminating in the publication of his first book, Catching Light (2021).

Penny Craswell is a Sydneybased writer. She is the author of Design Lives Here: Australian interiors, furniture and lighting (2020) and Reclaimed: New homes from old materials (forthcoming, 2022). She is a former editor of Artichoke magazine and her blog is The Design Writer.

Editorial director Katelin Butler Editorial team Georgia Birks Nicci Dodanwela Jude Ellison Cassie Hansen Josh Harris Production Goran Rupena Design Janine Wurfel janine@studiometrik.com General manager sales Michael Pollard

CEO/Publisher Jacinta Reedy Company secretary Ian Close General manager operations Jane Wheeler

Published by Architecture Media Pty Ltd ACN 008 626 686 Level 6, 163 Eastern Road South Melbourne Vic 3205 Australia T: +61 3 8699 1000 F: +61 3 9696 2617 publisher@archmedia.com.au architecturemedia.com Endorsed by The Australian Institute of Architects and the Design Institute of Australia.

Advertising enquiries All states advertising@ archmedia.com.au +61 3 8699 1000 WA only OKeeffe Media WA Licia Salomone +61 412 080 600

Linda Cheng Writer Linda Cheng is the editor of ArchitectureAU.com. She is a contributor to a number of Australian architecture and design publications, including Houses, Artichoke and Architecture Australia.

Andy Macpherson Photographer

Print management DAI Print Distribution Australia: Are Direct (newsagents) and International: Eight Point Distribution

Andy Macpherson is an architectural photographer based in Northern New South Wales who works mainly with small architecture practices on Australia’s east coast. When he's not behind the camera or editing photos, Andy can be found hanging out with his wife and three daughters or practising jiu jitsu.

Cover: Autumn House

by Studio Bright.

Photograph: Rory Gardiner.

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CONTRIBUTORS

Member Circulations Audit Board

Subscriptions architecturemedia.com/store subscribe@archmedia.com.au or contact the publisher above ISSN 1440-3382

Copyright: HOUSES® is a registered trademark of Architecture Media Pty Ltd. All designs and plans in this publication are copyright and are the property of the architects and designers concerned.

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Fresh finds

Relax by the pool on an elegant sun lounger, curl up on an Italian sofa or bask in the glow of a nostalgic lamp design – the choice is yours.

Find more residential products: selector.com and productnews.com.au

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01 Type collection SBW has launched Type, a furniture collection designed and manufactured in Melbourne.

Referencing modernist typography, the collection includes stools, dining tables, side tables, plinths and more. Monochromatic colours are used alongside timeless finishes, such as natural stone and marble. sbwaustralia.com.au

03 Bollo armchair Designed by Andreas Engesvik for Swedish studio Fogia, the Bollo armchair combines deep comfort with clean lines. Generous, soft cushions embrace the slim tubular frames, which are evocative of mid-century lounge chairs. Shown here in ‘Cognac’ leather, Bollo is available in different leathers and fabrics. fredinternational.com.au

02 Visioni B Faded rug Visioni B Faded is a rug designed by Patricia Urquiola for Italian company CC Tapis. Part of the Signature collection, the rug is handknotted in Nepal by expert Tibetan artisans.

It can be made of Himalayan wool or pure silk, and its size can be customized to suit any room. iwanmaktabi.com

04 Blade tables and tray Defined by precise lines and fine craftsmanship, the Blade table and tray set is part of Elan Plus, the new bespoke furniture collection from Australian joinery company Elan. The two tables can nest together, while the tray is ideal for bedtime eating, reading or mobile-scrolling. livingedge.com.au

FRESH FINDS

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05 Hangman lighting collection With its nostalgic nod to the classic paper-and-pencil game of the same name, Hangman is an exercise in playful design and simple, well-executed geometry. The collection of floor, table and pendant lights is designed by Adam Goodrum for Rakumba in the pair’s first collaboration. rakumba.com.au

07 Fiori coffee table The Fiori coffee table, designed by Helsinki studio Poiat with designer and master cabinet-maker Antrei Hartikainen, celebrates fine woodwork and Finnish design.

Crafted from oak, Fiori is available in three sizes and two heights, with the shorter table neatly slotting under the taller one. greatdanefurniture.com

06 Rail sun lounger The simple, modern lines of Pedrali’s Rail sun lounger are an ideal complement to relaxing moments on the terrace, in the garden or by the pool. Angled, powdercoated legs support a textilene backrest, which can be adjusted, and a comfortable seat. jrf.com.au

08 Brasilia sofa Designed by São Paulo-based architect Marcio Kogan of Studio MK27, the Brasilia range embodies a contemporary and minimal style rooted in Brazilian modernism. Brasilia includes an armchair, an ottoman, sofas, and varied selections for the bedroom. dedece.com

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09 Lunam collection Designed by Patricia Urquiola and made in Italy, Lunam is a dreamy furniture collection inspired by the atmosphere of a lunar landscape. A simple painted metal structure supports the generously dimensioned upholstered sections, which can be complemented by a Lunam cushion. Aptly, Lunam is available from Space. spacefurniture.com.au

11 Desert lounge chair The graceful Desert lounge chair by Ferm Living features a powdercoated tubular steel frame and an interchangeable textile seat. Each chair’s PET yarn fabric is woven from about 50 recycled plastic bottles. The lounge comes in a range of colours and patterns and is suitable for indoor and outdoor use. marzdesigns.com

10 Corner Collection Based on the simple lines of a house drawn by a child, the Corner Collection by Melbourne’s Another Bureau of Design includes a stool, a bench and a lounge chair. Metal panels are cut, folded and carefully welded together to create geometric forms reminiscent of gable roofs. anotherbureauofdesign.com

12 Astrée floor lamp With the Ligne Roset Astrée floor lamp, Benjamin Graindorge wanted to create the impression of a globe floating in space. A glass shade is delicately suspended within steel tubing, which evokes the infinity symbol and is supported by a marble base. domo.com.au

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PRODUCTS

SPOT THE AIR CONDITIONER

That’s right, you can barely see it, because Unico Pro is the original wall-mounted air-conditioner with no bulky external unit. Designed and made in Italy, it’s sleek and stylish inside, and outside – it’s as if it isn’t even there, letting you preserve the integrity of your design and the clean lines of external walls.

Ideal for apartment buildings, townhouses, heritage buildings or projects where body corporate regulations restrict the use of outdoor compressor units. Unico Pro is the elegant cooling and heating solution that truly lets you design without compromise.

Design without compromise.

S TA B L E HOUSE

BY S I B LI NG ARC H I TECTU R E

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Regenerating a site rich in history, this vibrant new home, contained within the walls of an old stable, is part of an ongoing multigenerational project that explores alternative models for living together.

Words by Chloe Naughton Photography by Katherine Lu

History weaves its way through Stable House via charming brick walls that brim with character and hint at Forest Lodge’s past. The area, a small inner-suburb of Sydney, was once home to Harold Park Paceway, a harness racing track that operated from the 1890s until 2010. Remnants of this lifetime are evident in the many surviving horse stables that are scattered throughout the area, including this one: a dilapidated brick stable built behind an 1880s worker’s cottage, which was accessed by a carriageway easement on the western edge of the site.

Stable House is a new residence contained within the walls of the former stable. It is the home of Qianyi Lim, co-director of Sibling Architecture, and her young family, and is the first stage of an ongoing project to convert the site into a multigenerational home for Qianyi’s family. This type of living is quite common in parts of Asia such as Malaysia where Qianyi’s mother, a former architect, grew up in a four-storey house, cohabiting with extended family. Stage two will extend the cottage and adapt it into a residence for Qianyi’s sister and her family. Qianyi’s mother lives nearby and will also pop in and out periodically to visit the growing families. The two houses will share a central courtyard, fostering connection between the family and maintaining views across the site to an adjacent bush reserve for the eight neighbouring terraced houses that occupy the eastern edge of the site. The bush reserve is owned by council and has been regenerated by a bushcare group. The heavily planted site provides amenity for all neighbours and the vegetation extends up to Stable House, where a native garden has been established in consultation with the bushcare group.

The new fabric has been informed by existing conditions, and respectfully preserves the structurally sound stable walls. At times, the house borrows these walls as an outer and inner skin while at other times it steps away from them, creating both an internal courtyard and shaded privacy from

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STABLE HOUSE

01 A central garden connects Stable House to the site’s existing cottage and will become a common space shared by both residences.

Stable House is built on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

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New house

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the neighbours. When viewed from the cottage, one half of the front facade is screened by a remnant brick wall, while the other half offers a contemporary interpretation of the bricks: delightfully vibrant orange glazed tiles, which frame the entry threshold. Over time, these tiles will become engulfed by a cascade of wonga wonga vines, supported by a playful trellis that wraps the front and side of the house and that can be glimpsed from the street.

The house is split over two levels in an adaptable layout that enables two couples to cohabit, with separate sleeping quarters, shared living spaces and room for everyone to work from home. The home office – currently on the first floor – overlooks an internal courtyard, which acts as a light well. Qianyi and her partner Ross, a designer, have always worked regularly from home and they wanted a workspace that felt connected to the day-to-day activities of the house. During one of Sydney’s COVID–19 lockdowns, Qianyi’s sister, a professional chef, lived in the house and at times ran a food service out of the home kitchen, utilizing every inch of the eight-metre-long stainless steel benchtop.

A soaring double-height ceiling with skylight dances natural light around the interior. A hinged panel offers a charming visual connection between the main bedroom and living area, allowing supervision of little ones playing below. The interior is lined with chocolatey-hued spotted gum plywood.

The rich timber is pleasantly interrupted in places by brightly coloured glazed tiles, inspired by the many tiled buildings of Asia. The internal court features a playful scalloped concrete floor slab, originally mistaken by the builder as door swings on the floor plan. Rather than introducing new openings to the stable wall at the back of the house, Qianyi has opted for skylights in the roof.

In parallel with its built work, Sibling Architecture undertakes research projects. One of these is New Agency, which examines the hurdles future generations will face in Australia in relation to how we will live. The research imagines other ways of living together, with a particular focus on the aging population. Stable House is an experiment in co-housing and offers the practice an opportunity to test an atypical model of home ownership in Australia, one that is slowly on the rise. Qianyi believes the growing interest in multigenerational living and co-housing is largely driven by immigration, the housing affordability crisis and the tendency for children to stay in the family home into early adulthood.

Stage one of this project has already accommodated evolving family dynamics and is flexible enough to change over time, providing space for more family members in future with the extension of the cottage in stage two. It is rare for an architect to have built work to inform their research and vice versa, but already this experiment is proving that exploring alternative models of living is a worthy investment.

HOUSES 145

NEW HOUSE

2 Site 377 m² Floor 145 m²

Design 18 m Build 12 m

Products Roofing: Lysaght Longline Roofing in Colorbond ‘Monument Matt’ External walls: wal s: Fibre cement sheeting from James Hardie in Dulux ‘Monument’; Vogue tiles from Classic Ceramics in ‘Papaya’ and ‘Ultramarine’ Internal walls: Spotted gum plywood from Big River Group in ‘Osmo Oil’; plasterboard; Vogue tiles from Classic Ceramics in ‘Papaya’ and ‘Ultramarine’ Windows: Sashless windows from Aneeta; powdercoated aluminium window frames from Alspec Doors: Powdercoated aluminium door frames from Alspec; CS Cavity Sliders doors; Designer Doorware hardware Flooring: Hit-and-miss polished concrete flooring; spotted gum plywood from Big River Group in ‘Osmo Oil’ Lighting: Ai Lati Cip and Sottosopra wall lights from Light Co K tchen: Custom stainless steel Kitchen: benchtop and sinks; cabinetry in spotted gum plywood from Big River Group; Smeg oven and cooktop; Qasair rangehood; Vola tapware; Fisher and Paykel refrigerator; pinboard by Woven Image Bathroom: Caroma toilets and basins; Kaldewei bath; Reece tapware in ‘Brushed Nickel’; Vogue tiles from Classic Ceramics in ‘Rosa’ and ‘Turchese’ Heating and cooling: Ceiling fans from Lucci; hydronic in-slab heating External elements: Custom trellis screen

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02 The adaptable plan prioritizes generously scaled living zones. Artwork: Jia Jia Chen.

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03 Vibrant blue tiles and a scalloped concrete floor add textural richness in the courtyard.

04 The new house navigates the space within the remnant stable walls. Artwork: Ry David Bradley.

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05 Vestiges of the stable walls remain visible in the firstfloor bathroom.

06 A playful trellis on the facade will allow vines to shroud the house and provide sun shading.

07 The site’s western edge adjoins regenerated bushland.

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Cottage Common yard Stable House Cross Street terraces 5 Orphan School Creek Park

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Architect Sibling Architecture +61 402 058 524 sister@siblingarchitecture.com siblingarchitecture.com

NEW HOUSE

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Project team Qianyi Lim, Amelia Borg, Nicholas Braun, Timothy Moore, Nick Du Bern Builder Red Cedar Constructions Engineer SDA Structures

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F I T Z ROY NORTH HOUSE BY FIGUREGROUND ARCHITECTURE

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Rigorous planning and attentive detailing have turned an original terrace in Melbourne’s north into a family home with a surprising sense of calm.

Words by Peter Davies Photography by Ari Hatzis

In generations to come, I wonder what anthropologists might glean about our shifting domestic mores from the way that we reconfigure heritage houses.

Opening and extending them to welcome more light and air; building in flexibility for varied use, such as work or study; and – common in Victorian terrace renovations – shifting living and dining activities away from grandly scaled formal rooms into more relaxed spaces, typically oriented away from the street.

That’s not to suggest, of course, that there is a formula for a good terrace renovation. Indeed, most navigate a complex array of parameters imposed by planning regulations, overlooking neighbours and limited space, not to mention the challenges of refreshing century-old buildings for modern life. There is plenty for future anthropologists to mull over.

This alteration and addition by Melbourne-based practice Figureground is a very good exemplar. At the outset, architect Matt Rawlins was presented with an unrenovated double-storey Victorian terrace. Like its neighbours in the leafy streets of Fitzroy North in inner Melbourne, the house had much to recommend it – an original dwelling in good condition, east–west orientation, and a block long enough to do something interesting at the rear.

The brief was to maximize space and functionality for the four people – a couple with two children – who would eventually occupy it. To this end, Matt devised a three-part strategy.

The first manoeuvre was to replace the existing lean-to structure at the rear with a full-width extension housing a new laundry and powder room, a galley-style kitchen and an open-plan living and dining area. Low and pavilion-like, it is a light and bright space, rich in tactile surfaces.

The transition from the original house to the dwelling is marked by a joinery-lined vestibule. The door to the laundry and powder room is discreetly concealed within the cabinetry, and the storage on the northern boundary wall angles subtly to funnel guests into the open-plan space beyond.

The kitchen is petite and highly functional. Sage-coloured 2-pac overhead cabinets are paired with a marble splashback and benchtop, while the fridge is housed in a joinery-wrapped column that also conceals

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FITZROY NORTH HOUSE

Fitzroy North House is built on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people.

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Alteration + addition

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culinary detritus from the living room beyond. A timber joinery unit along the northern boundary wall houses a foldaway breakfast station – another neat gesture to manage kitchen clutter in a busy household.

With a strong background in hospitality design, Matt recognized that a freestanding dining table surrounded by chairs was not the best solution for the compact space. Instead, he installed an upholstered banquette along the northern wall, paired with Thonet dining chairs on the opposite side.

The utility offered by in-built furniture continues in the living zone, too – an east-facing daybed captures morning sun through a large, pivoting window alongside a low, marble-topped plinth that stretches the length of the southern wall, displaying family artefacts and a much-loved record player.

The architect’s material choices bring a sense of craft and tactility to the interiors. Eschewing plasterboard, the ceilings are finished in pine lining boards, and the walls combine subtle ivory-hued brickwork and American oak wall panelling. This commitment to fine detailing ensures that every element contributes to a rich and thoughtfully resolved whole.

Beyond the living and dining zone, the second part of the strategy comes into play. Matt envisaged the lush courtyard garden as more than just an exterior space; instead, it was designed to act as another room, intimately connected to the house proper and available for everyday use. The space is divided into two – one half is paved while the other has grass underfoot.

Low-maintenance shrubs add texture to the southern boundary, while brick walls and timber battens extend the architectural language of the house into the exterior.

The final part of the strategy to maximize the house’s space was bookending the courtyard garden with a compact standalone building on the site’s eastern boundary. It houses a workshop on one side and a music studio on the other – one of the clients is a musician who still finds time to record at home.

For acoustic control, the music studio’s interior is encased in perforated plasterboard, and a pair of cavity-sliding doors limits sound outside. During pandemic times, the studio has been requisitioned as a home office, but I’m sure the family is keen to return it to its intended use as soon as is practicable.

Figureground’s focus on craft is evident in this structure’s exterior, too.

Where a secondary building like this may end up blocky and purely functional, here it is graced with a distinctive roof form that rises above the brick and timber-batten exterior, effectively blocking sight lines from the house’s eastern neighbour.

Matt says that what has surprised him most in the completed house is its sense of calm – which is a little unexpected in a family home occupied by two young children. Perhaps it’s the product of the rigorous planning that shapes every volume, the assiduous detailing that squeezes value from every element, and the lush courtyard garden that brings serenity and greenery into the heart of the home. In this house, everything has its place.

HOUSES 145

ALTERATION + ADDITION

Site 214 m² Floor 212 m²

Design 12 m Build 12 m

Products External walls: Adbri concrete bricks in ‘Ivory’; blackbutt cladding in Cutek ‘Grey Mist’ Internal walls: American oak wall detailing; pine lining board ceiling, regency profile Windows: Custom steel frames

by Paul Dodd and Lui Flooring: Made By Storey American oak engineered boards in ‘Sesame’ Lighting: Flos 265 wall lamp from Euroluce; A Design Studio Flat White wall sconce; Ross Gardam Polar wall light; Moda Piera Arancini lamp Kitchen: La Bella Marble from RMS Natural Stone; Evenex Clear Oak joinery with 2-pac solid paint finish; Astra Walker Icon tapware in brushed nickel Bathroom: Inax Sugie Mosaic tiles from Artedomus; Cement tiles from Terranova; La Bella Marble from RMS Natural Stone; Evenex Clear Oak joinery; Astra Walker Icon tapware in brushed nickel External elements: Bowral Bricks St Pauls Cream paving Other: Custom dining table, designed by Figureground Architecture and made by H.McC.; Thonet No. 18 dining chairs; Grazia and Co Iva stools; Jardan Valley sofa; Falcon armchair

01 The lush courtyard garden is designed to act as an outdoor room, intimately connected to the main house.

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02 Joinery is used to manage the clutter of family life and define zones within the open-plan living space. Artwork: Leila Jeffreys.

03 Built-in furniture maximizes usable space on a narrow site.

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ALTERATION + ADDITION

04 Material choices add tactility and reveal the architect’s focus on craft.

Artwork: Michael Portley.

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05 A standalone workshop and music studio provides additional space for the family’s activities.

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Architect Figureground Architecture +61 3 9015 8631 info@figureground.com.au figureground.com.au

FITZROY NORTH HOUSE

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Project team Matt Rawlins, Nick Peron, Kate Crosby, Julie Sloane Builder Travancore Homes Engineer Structed Consulting Engineers Landscape architect Sarah Perry

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SUNRISE STUDIO

BY B AR K A R C H I T E CTS

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Stair Entry Dining/study Kitchen Bed Robe Light-well deck Living Yoga deck Outdoor dining Skywell

In the Noosa hinterland, this modest studio – a companion building to a 1980s Quadropod house designed by Gabriel Poole – is a compelling prototype for prefabricated subtropical homes.

Words by Cameron Bruhn Photography by Christopher Frederick Jones

One of my favourite television programs as a child was the award-winning mid-week drama A Country Practice.

Running from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, the bucolic series followed the life and times of the tight-knit community living and working in the fictional New South Wales town of Wandin Valley. The storylines were primarily told through the lens of the hardworking and beloved general practitioners, the doctors who ran the private medical clinic and staffed the little hospital.

The country GP is a superb generalist, looking after multiple generations of local families with care, comprehensiveness and continuity, always on-call in the case of accident or emergency. This good general practice for doctoring has some similarities to the work of contemporary architects practising outside Australia’s capital cities. Founded on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast in the mid-1990s, Bark Architects is an exemplar of such a practice, and the engaging story of the Sunrise Studio unfolds like a good Monday-night episode of A Country Practice.

The prodigious residential architecture portfolio of Bark Architects includes transformational adaptations of existing houses, ambitious new dwellings on spectacular coastal sites with expansive Pacific Ocean views, and countryside villas that embrace and tune to their landscape settings. Alongside these widely published and acclaimed homes, the practice

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has completed public buildings for government clients, including the welcoming Noosa Junction Station precinct and the community-enriching Curra Community Hall. The practice’s founding directors, Lindy Atkin and Stephen Guthrie, are also very active and effective in advocacy and leadership in the local architectural community – including the activities of the Australian Institute of Architects and Sunshine Coast Open House, which began in 2017 and is chaired

by Lindy. These energetic general practitioners have created a context-responsive, local practice that serves its community well through private and public projects.

It was through the Sunshine Coast Open House program that Lindy and Stephen first met Simone and David, the clients for the Sunrise Studio. Simone and David relocated from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast 10 years ago and are the proud and studious custodians of a Gabriel Poole Quadropod building, the 1983 Lewis House. Gabriel Poole is one of the country’s most acclaimed architects, and his innovative Quadropod houses deploy a steel-framed structural system that is well-suited to steep sites and the construction of lightweight, prefabricated houses.

Simone and David have generously opened the structurally and spatially intriguing house to the public as part of the annual Sunshine Coast Open House weekend. It was at the 2018 Open House event that

SECONDARY DWELLING

01 Despite its small footprint and modest materials, Sunrise Studio has been designed to elevate the experience of daily life.

02 The mature trees on the site have been retained and the house is oriented to maximize northern light and cooling breezes.

Artwork: Jai Vasicek.

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Sunrise Studio is built on the land of the Gubbi Gubbi people.

2 Tinbeerwah, Qld

Secondary dwelling

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Family

+ 1 powder room

Simone and Lindy first met, and that early conversation led to a commission for Bark Architects to design a secondary, independent dwelling on the verdant hillside site. This engagement has evolved into a neighbourly friendship, with Bark Architects’ Noosa studio located just a few doors down, along a ridgetop road that winds through the picturesque Noosa Hinterland localities of Doonan and Tinbeerwah.

Simone and David’s functional brief for the Sunrise Studio called for self-contained, discrete accommodation for their daughter and grandson on their ecologically regenerated 5,720-square-metre site.

This translated to a house that is a model for compact, sustainable living in Queensland’s subtropical environments. It has two bedrooms, a two-way bathroom, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room and a deck, all within a total floor area of 110 square metres.

The location of the building on the site defers to the prospect of the existing dwelling, prioritizes the retention of all the existing, mature trees, and is oriented to maximize northern light and cooling breezes. The secluded studio is diagonally offset from the main house and carefully nestled back into the steep terrain. This arrangement amplifies the enveloping experience of the stunning landscape. The spatial dexterity of the plan and section elevate the efficiency of the program. The neatly square floor plan is pierced right through the middle with a vertical well that connects earth to sky and, from here, the roof planes tilt up to frame the views out to the Noosa coastline. These moves generate a spatial generosity and transparency that belies the modest size of the individual rooms.

Drawing on the lessons of international modernism and the local experiments of Gabriel (and his circle), the modular structure is generated from a taut threeby-three-metre grid that prioritizes construction and material efficiency and presents as a contemporary prototype for lightweight prefabricated houses.

The architectural approach deployed by Bark Architects at the Sunrise Studio deftly uses siting, space and structure to elevate the experience of daily life – from yoga on the deck in the very early morning to relaxing by the fire listening to music in the evening.

The care, comprehensiveness and continuity of this general practice has yielded a great little building with a compelling narrative that gives voice to the unique architecture of this part of the world.

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1 Site 5,720 m² Floor 110 m²

Design 7 m Build 10 m

Products Roofing: Lysaght Spandek in Colorbond ‘Monument’ External walls: Lysaght Spandek in Colorbond ‘Monument’ Internal walls: Hoop pine plywood in Whittle Waxes ‘Limewash Matt’ Windows and doors: AWS Elevate Aluminium Systems windows and doors powdercoated in Colorbond ‘Monument’ from Horizon Windows and Doors Flooring: Hoop pine plywood in Whittle Waxes ‘Black Ash’ Kitchen: Joinery in Laminex in ‘White’; Caesarstone benchtop in ‘Concrete’; Smeg refrigerator in ‘Black’; plywood open shelves in ‘Black’ Bathroom: Hoop pine plywood joinery in ‘Limewash Satin’; Caesarstone benchtop in ‘Concrete’; vinyl flooring; Laminex Aquapanel walls in ‘White’

03 The house appears to nestle into the surrounding hillside and affords views of the Noosa coastline.

04 The modular structure learns from both international modernism and the local experiments of Gabriel Poole.

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SECONDARY DWELLING

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05 A vertical well pierces the square floor plan through its centre, connecting earth to sky.

06 By prioritizing construction and material efficiency, the design provides a model for compact, sustainable living.

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Architect Bark Architects +61 7 5471 0340 info@barkdesign.com.au barkdesign.com.au

Project team Stephen Guthrie, Lindy Atkin, Tim Griffiths Builder Arc Projects Structural engineer and geotechnical investigator SCG Consulting Engineers Building certification Pacific BCQ Detail survey Hass Surveys

SUNRISE STUDIO

5m

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SUNRISE STUDIO MEET THE OWNERS

When Simone and David wanted to build a secondary dwelling on their Noosa property for the family’s next generation, the choice of architect was easy – Stephen Guthrie and Lindy Atkin of Bark Architects were just down the road. Josh Harris spoke to Simone and David about the process.

WORKING WITH AN ARCHITECT

Photography by Christopher Frederick Jones

Josh Harris You’ve been living in the house on this property – designed by architect Gabriel Poole – for around 10 years. When did you decide to commission an additional, separate studio for the site, and how did you connect with Bark Architects?

Simone Browne I met Lindy and Steve when they opened their studio for Sunshine Coast Open House in 2018, before COVID–19. We’re very local – our house is just down the road from their studio. We had a good conversation, connected, and then in the following year, we looked at building our “tree house” and so we went to see Lindy and Steve.

JH Was it important for you to work with a local architect?

SB It was, I think. Bark Architects know the area and, being just up the road, they know our terrain very well. We get the same winds.

And we love their style.

01 01 The studio’s compact footprint is augmented by the generous deck among the trees.

02 The site is surrounded by native bushland that has been regenerated by Simone and David.

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JH What was your brief to Lindy and Steve?

David Toone The studio is a place for my daughter and her son to live independently, yet close to us. With my grandson, I drew a little drawing of a house in a tree, with a flying fox and a ladder, and we said, “That’s your brief.”

Honestly, that was it! And from then on, the only thing we were trying to do was to fit it into the land and not take over from the Gabriel Poole place [the Lewis House, 1983]. We were very easygoing, we really wanted them to give us guidance.

JH And did everything in that drawing make it into the final house? Did you get your flying fox?

DT Not yet, but we have it planned! Basically, we were pretty happy with the first drawing.

We worked it out and no trees needed to be taken out, and very few branches. We changed this, changed that, but really there were very few modifications. We basically said, “Go for it.”

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JH Can you tell me about the regeneration you’ve been doing on the property?

DT When we started, the site was covered in Singapore daisies – I'm talking thousands of them. We didn't want to poison them because I was keeping native bees, so we pulled them by hand; it took us six months to get rid of them.

The bonus was that the soil was beautiful underneath. We joined Landcare and got some advice from them. First of all, we put in 350 small trees – all natives, tube stock. And now we’ve got some fabulous things going on ... there are koalas, wallabies and all sorts of birds; the whole atmosphere has changed. That’s what’s great about doing something like this, you can see all the wildlife coming back.

SB The studio is almost sight unseen from our house now, thanks to all the plants we’ve put in.

JH How is the balance between privacy and connection between the two houses?

Do you see each other every day?

DT I sometimes don’t see my daughter for three or four days. Often, the only way we know that she’s here is when the toilet paper disappears from the pantry, which she and our grandson often raid. We have also been known to raid her pantry for a bottle of red, so it goes both ways!

SB It works very well with babysitting and that sort of thing, and if her family grows, David and I will happily swap houses – we can downsize and they can upsize.

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DT And when we go away, they look after the house and the pool and the animals.

JH Was your daughter involved in the design process?

DT She put in her two pennies’ worth. She’d say “I like that” or “I don't like that.” Sometimes we’d agree, sometimes not. But really it was all of us sitting around with Steve and Lindy, who we now regard as good friends, and just throwing ideas around with each other: “What should we do here? What can we change there?” Of course, we only had a small footprint to work in: we couldn’t go any larger than 90 square metres because of council regulations.

JH Was that a good constraint to have?

SB I think it was a good thing. We wanted to keep the footprint small so that the studio blended into the garden. And the decking wasn't restricted by regulations, so it’s a lovely big deck.

JH It does look like a tree house, with that deck among the treetops.

SB Yes. At the start of the project we planted two celery wood trees – tropical Queensland rainforest trees – and already they’re up past the height of the deck and climbing. So there are lots of insects, lots of birds sitting on the railing.

DT And green tree snakes.

WORKING WITH AN ARCHITECT

JH Was this your first time working with architects on a house?

SB Yes. We never thought we could afford one.

It was interesting to go through the process, thinking, “Do we go this way, or do we buy something off the plan?” But an off-the-shelf house doesn’t take into consideration where the wind and the sunlight come from, and so many other things. Lindy and Steve have designed an amazing little building that’s quite special. And each of the rooms seems to frame a view or a tree trunk, or the sun shoots through and lights up the back room. It is lovely.

And we used a lot of cheap materials to keep the price down, but they’re just as fabulous as the expensive products on the market.

DT If we hadn’t used an architect, it would have cost us roughly the same. But we’ve got what we wanted: something that we love.

JH Would you recommend working with an architect, even if you’re on a tighter budget?

DT I think so. From my point of view, architects see and plan a lot of things that I didn’t see. Steve would walk through and say to the builders, “This is not right, this is not right, this is not right,” and I never saw it.

Once he pointed it out, I could see the difference. In a nutshell, we were very happy with our architects.

SB You could ask, “Would you do it again?”

And the answer is yes, absolutely.

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Taro Studio O N E T O W AT C H

This young Sydney studio, a partnership between architect Charlotte Fayle and landscape designer Michael Fayle, designs homes for a simple and informal way of life, in tune with nature’s rhythms.

Words by Peter Salhani Photography by Brett Boardman

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Architects can be dreamers or artists, inventors or technicians. Rarely are they all four, but some come close to that illusive coupling of logic and instinct. Sydney architect Charlotte Fayle might be one.

I met Charlotte, founder of Taro Studio, at her home – Keep Cabin House – on a clear summer morning. Sunlight streamed through the front garden, where concrete cylinders were host to thriving veggies in among a heath of flowering endemic trees and shrubs. Her comportment is different from a lot of architects I’ve met, and she snaps to life when talking about her garden.

“I wasn't really a plant person until this project,” she says. “But now I'm obsessed with gardens, and native plants in particular. I can’t believe I ever wanted to plant a lavender hedge here, of all places!”

It is here, in the Antipodes, that her British-born soul has been set free. This place has changed her, along with her husband Michael, a landscape designer.

Charlotte and Michael fell in love with the site, surrounded by bushland in the leafy Sydney suburb of Castlecrag, made famous by architecture’s pioneering duo Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin.

The south-facing, 1940s brick bungalow occupied a corner site adjoining Keep Reserve, a bushland pocket in this Heritage Conservation Area. Though solid, the house lacked light and any real connection to the landscape around it.

Renovation goals were to extend the home to accommodate a growing family, with places for indoor/ outdoor play and visiting grandparents, plus home offices

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for Charlotte and Michael. Five key principles underpin its transformation: retaining as much of the existing bungalow as possible; maintaining the building footprint to preserve garden space; opening living spaces up to winter sun and the gardens; complying with “flame zone” bushfire regulations; and ensuring additions were cost-effective and site-sensitive.

The brick structure was largely retained, its exterior walls bagged a sandstone colour in harmony with the bush rock. The reconfigured east wing expands the galley kitchen, creates a study and adds a concise first-floor enclave of bedrooms, bathrooms and study. The addition is clad in Corten steel and fringed in roof gardens of native plants to minimize visual impact by dissolving it into the landscape.

The west wing living area has new or expanded windows framing bush views, and a new skillion roof, arcing up to bring in northern light. It opens to a series of outdoor rooms around the house for leisure and play. They connect via stone paving, timber decking or, to the west, a steel gantry that cantilevers out over bush rock.

“Our strategy was to make the architectural interventions a backdrop to the landscape. Between the green roof and extended walkways around the western edge, the house has become a welcoming scaffold for plants and wildlife,” says Charlotte. “A place to slow down and switch on to nature’s rhythms.”

New structure is either fireproof or heavily insulated, making the house fire-safe and energy-efficient. Its interior linings include spotted gum floorboards and ceiling panels, bluestone bathroom floors paired with soft green ceramic

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“ Between the green roof and extended walkways around the western edge, the house has become a welcoming scaffold for plants and wildlife,” says Charlotte.

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01 Taro Studio is led by architect Charlotte Fayle and landscape designer Michael Fayle.

02 Keep Cabin House is a renovation to a brick bungalow adjacent to a bushland reserve in Sydney’s Castlecrag.

03 Outdoor rooms include the northfacing deck, with sunken bath.

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04 Living spaces are accommodated in a first-floor addition that welcomes winter sun.

05 A material palette of spotted gum, bluestone flooring and green tiles accentuate garden connections.

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tiling, and joinery made from leftover ceiling panels. Bespoke elements designed by Charlotte include a hefty sliding panel of glass and timber between the kitchen and living room, and a sprawling blackbutt dining table – all handmade on site.

“Traces of the old house remain, but with a new interpretation,” says Charlotte. Old and new are stitched together deftly, with a sensibility that seems more European and less Australian, despite the new additions touching the earth so lightly. Charlotte studied at Nottingham University in the UK and came to Australia at age 21. She completed her master's degree here and then her apprenticeship with Sydney architect Richard Cole, whom she credits as a huge influence, along with her husband and collaborator Michael, whom Charlotte says “taught me about a simple, pared-back, Australian way of life.”

Other projects currently on the drawing board include a new house on a steep bush block in Middle Cove that is lightweight and site-sensitive, using isolated pier footings that step around mature trees to minimize excavation. There’s also an existing house on a bush block in Pymble, which involves substantial native bush regeneration and the removal of a room to create a new courtyard to bring natural light and airflow into the plan. Both projects are a collaboration with Michael and reveal the couple’s shared commitment to holistic living from indoors to out. tarostudio.com.au

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TARO STUDIO

WALL

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Colour me curious

Fresh summer hues, deep ochres inspired by nature, and surprising splashes of vibrant green – these colourful products will set the tone for the season.

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Find more residential products: selector.com and productnews.com.au

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01 Kink handles Kink is a series of handles that adds a playful detail and a touch of colour to furniture and cabinetry. A press brake, a machine typically reserved for sheet metal, is used to “kink” the aluminium tube. The handles come in a range of standard and custom powdercoat colours. derlot.com

03 Wonder palette Dulux’s summer-inspired Wonder palette for 2022 features vibrant and playful colours chosen to create “light and effervescent” moods. In this room, the hero wall colour ‘Equatorial Forest’ adds an earthy backdrop to the pastel decor and the ‘Vivid White’ trim keeps things bright. dulux.com.au

02 Goddess colour collection Six new colours have been added to Taubmans’ Chromatic Joy collection, curated by contemporary artist Tracey Tawhiao. Featuring deep green hues and rich orange and brown earth tones, the Goddess collection is inspired by nature and Tawhiao’s Māori heritage. taubmans.com.au

04 Brutalista wallpaper Brutalista is one of 14 new murals by Barcelona interior designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán with wallpaper house Tres Tintas Barcelona. Violán draws on sculptural forms and atmospheric colours to create dreamlike landscapes that can become bold feature pieces in the home. wallpaperdecor.com.au

PRODUCTS

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05 Living Pigments collection Laminex’s Living Pigments collection is comprised of seven new solid colours inspired by the warm tones of ochre, terracotta and sand found in the earth. ‘Burnt Ochre,’ pictured, is a sumptuous, full-bodied hue just slightly on the red side of pure orange. laminex.com.au

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06 Interior Landscape rug collection The debut rug collection from Brisbane artist Tamika Grant-Iramu seeks ways to connect with the different threads of her heritage, with Papua New Guinean and Torres Strait Islander carving techniques and storytelling aesthetics combing with Western cultural influences. designerrugs.com.au

08 Electricity collection Turning ordinary fittings into something extraordinary, this range of dimmers, switches and outlets adds a strong industrial look to functional details. Made from solid metal

by Buster and Punch, the range is available in black, smoked bronze, steel and brass. livingedge.com.au

07 Portal (4) Portal (4) is a 2021 work by Brisbane artist Andy Harwood. Harwood’s paintings conceptualize the sensation of a brain in flux, between order and chaos. Contrasting chromatic spectrums and intricate patterns challenge the viewer to engage in new and different visual narratives. studiogallerymelbourne.com.au

09 Metal Trace Smooth Metal Trace Smooth from Haymes Paint’s Artisan Collection is a pure metallic finish with a low-lustre finish. The Metal Trace Smooth finish has a soft textural feel but is also hard-wearing.

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COLOUR UPDATE

10 GB Veneer Arcadia Designed to emulate the natural gradients and colour variations found in Australia’s natural landscape, this new masonry collection from Austral Masonry offers mottled tones and raw, earthy textures. The range of four colours are named after the Australian terrain. brickworks.com.au

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AU TU M N HOUSE

BY STUDIO BRIGHT

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Sensitive additions grafted onto a storied terrace oscillate from solid to void, balancing individual privacy with neighbourly generosity and adding a cohesive new chapter in the evolution of this Melbourne home.

Words by Michael Macleod Photography by Rory Gardiner

Rows of terraced houses make up much of the built character of Melbourne’s inner-north. Anyone who has lived in these parts will be familiar with their decorated facades, their linear plan and their propensity to trade access to daylight and connection to the outdoors for the benefits of density and location. These houses have had a varied history; built to varying degrees of quality by land speculators, they accommodated a diverse community in their early years but became stigmatized as slum housing by the early twentieth century. In the 1970s, groups such as Fitzroy Housing Repair Advisory Service (whose founders included architects Suzanne Dance, Peter Elliott and Peter Lovell) encouraged people to appreciate and maintain them again. Modest and inventive renovations subsequently emerged, often warm and woody homes with temperamental skylights, designed for local academics.

The terrace at the core of this project was part of that movement.

Renovated by architect Mick Jorgensen as his own home, its Victorian-era bones were altered and expanded into the unusually wide side garden with a series of outbuildings and the genuine eccentricity of someone who had deep connections to the Montsalvat artist colony. It is a rare Melbourne architect who hasn’t been tasked with renovating a terrace but, for Studio Bright, this wasn’t a typical case of stripping back and starting anew; instead, all layers were valued.

Autumn House is a cohesive collection of diverse spaces rather than a singular statement. The project is anchored by the original building – restored to contain an entry, a laundry, and cheerful rooms for the kids – and culminates

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AUTUMN HOUSE

01 Living spaces unfurl around outdoor spaces, respecting the original terrace and the 1980s additions by architect Mick Jorgensen.

02 The addition traces the site’s southern perimeter and introduces a wedge-shaped, two-storey form.

Autumn House is built on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation.

4 Melbourne, Vic

Alteration + addition

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Family

2 + 1 powder room

in the largely untouched living room from Jorgensen’s time, including a chunky fireplace, a slightly undulating brick floor and timber beams.

The big move is the insertion of a new double-storey addition containing kitchen, dining, living and parents’ suite. This sits south of the original house and is offset toward the rear, opening to northern sun and making space for the large existing elm tree that is the heart of the home.

Jorgensen’s outbuildings are gone, but the character of multiple courtyards and sense of discovery remain. A brick garden wall wraps the perimeter of the site with satisfying mass, curved around corners and sliced at one point to create a neatly angled family shortcut from laneway to courtyard.

The wall gains thickness along the street front to house a well-used study, bike room and store. The study window extends above the wall in a crisp steel-wrapped reference to the openings in the adjacent heritage facade – a typical example of Studio Bright’s rigorous attention to construction detail in the execution of ideas.

The new addition is testament to this confident construction. The side elevation reveals a singular taper that smoothly rakes from the elm tree to a sharp point high above the rear laneway, a seemingly simple wedge with a curved floorplan only achievable by determined effort of architect and builder.

It is not just a formal exercise – the resultant shape is almost invisible from the street and courtyard, while building mass is pushed into an enigmatic tower against the grittier context of the rear laneway. The entire first floor is conceived as an arbour, wrapped in integrated planters and a filigree skin of expanded mesh the colour of autumn leaves. Overlooking from the firstfloor rooms and terrace is discretely managed by the meshed framework, and yet despite this screening, you don’t feel that you are missing out on anything. Virginia creeper is already colonizing this space, and the intent is that planting will soon turn building into “hedge,” part of a consistent desire to balance individual privacy with neighbourly generosity.

Throughout this project, Studio Bright demonstrates a clear awareness of the challenges and joys of family life. There are places for shoes and bags and bikes, places to come together and places for time apart. The new living spaces are calmly contained between concrete floor and soffit, providing the archetypal comfort of a garden outlook with a sturdy wall at your back.

An unobtrusive stair curls upwards to the parents’ bedroom, a peaceful eyrie surrounded by plants. At the very centre of all this life sits the dramatic sliding door between the new addition and Jorgensen’s living room, rationally allowing the two halves to act as separate domains if required, yet irreverently paired with a skinny secret door for the enjoyment of smaller inhabitants.

Suzanne Dance has noted that Melbourne’s inner-city streetscapes could now be more at risk than ever as new residents with big expectations and deep pockets push for increasingly major interventions, with many examples of enormous new rooms and basement car parks erasing both spirit and fabric.

Autumn House suggests a different direction, a bold new chapter for a wellloved home that happily both maintains and contributes to a continuing story.

Studio Bright has rightly prioritized garden and spatial quality, creating an enjoyable family environment rich in history, variety and warmth.

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ALTERATION + ADDITION

Site 415 m² Floor 279 m²

Design 21 m Build 16 m

Products Roofing: Lysaght Custom Orb and Custom Orb Accent 35 in ‘Surfmist’ External walls: Bagged recycled bricks in Dulux ‘Oyster Linen’; Galvabond expanded metal mesh from Truss Forte in Dulux ‘Russet Tan’; timber shiplap cladding from Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH) in Intergrain ‘Ultra Clear’ Internal walls: Bagged recycled bricks in Dulux ‘Oyster Linen’; Victorian ash timber lining boards from ASH in Intergrain ‘Ultra Clear’ Windows and doors: Hardwood timber frames from ASH in Intergrain ‘Ultra Clear’; Light Bridge double glazing from Viridian in ‘Clear’; louvre windows from Breezeway in ‘Clear Anodised’; door hardware from Designer Doorware in ‘Satin Brass’ Flooring: Burnished concrete; timber floorboards from ASH in Bona ‘Traffic Natural’ Lighting: Matter Made Landscape pendant from Criteria Collection; Artefact T series ceiling lights; Innermost Drop 22 from ECC Lighting; bathroom lights from Artemide; wall lights from Douglas and Bec, Volker Haug, Rich Brilliant Willing and LAAL; ceiling lights from Sphera and Bright Green Kitchen: Custom coloured concrete benchtop and splashback by Concrete by Keenan; joinery by Cabinet Smith; Brodware tap in ‘Brushed Brass Organic’; doorware from Hardware Box and Lo and Co in ‘Brass’; power outlets and switches from Thom; V-Zug ovens and cooktop; Fisher and Paykel refrigerator; Miele dishwasher; Whispair rangehood; Franke sink Bathroom: Brodware Yokato tapware in ‘Brass’; Nood concrete basins in ‘Mint Green’; joinery

by Cabinet Smith; Caroma toilet suite; Penny Round and Lustre Ripple tiles from Academy Tiles

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Bedroom Laundry Kids’ living Study Bike/exercise room Services Dining Kitchen Pantry Lounge Front yard Tree courtyard Lawn Roof deck

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03 New living areas were carefully sited in order to preserve existing trees.

04 The colour and material palette reflects a harmonious progression from old to new.

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06 A large sliding door marks the transition from Jorgensen’s lounge to the addition.

First floor 1:400

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05 Courtyard-facing doors and windows encourage fluid connection between inside and out.

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07 On the first floor, the filigree mesh and pocket garden obscure views of neighbours.

08 Surprising interior details include a tiled bathtub with tactile curved lip.

09 The garden wall peels open to reveal a side entry from laneway to courtyard.

10 The mesh screen of the addition will morph into a garden hedge as the creepers and plants mature.

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Architect Studio Bright +61 3 9853 4730 info@studiobright.com.au studiobright.com.au

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Project team Melissa Bright, Maia Close, Robert McIntyre, Emily Watson, Annie Suratt, Jaxon Webb, Pei She Lee Builder Provan Built Engineer Meyer Consulting Landscape architect Eckersley Garden Architecture

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PHOENIX HOUSE

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Covered deck Kitchen Dining Living Bedroom Rumpus Art studio Pool

A dilapidated Queenslander is pulled apart and re-assembled to “remix” the original, allowing a sustainable and joyous family home to rise from the ashes.

Words by Jenna Reed Burns Photography by Andy Macpherson

Sometimes things happen for a reason. While the work of Byron Bay architect Harley Graham is more often associated with modernism (an architectural style he admits he’s drawn to), changed personal circumstances saw him end up in solo possession of a small Queenslander, which he had rescued from demolition.

The original plan was to move the c. 1910 timber cottage from Brisbane to a 500-square-metre level block that Harley owned in Byron Bay, renovate it and then perhaps put it up for sale. But those plans were derailed, and the house needed to be transformed into a home for Harley and his two teenage children. When he drove down to see the house – which had been “stored” in a cane field in Ballina – he found the protective tarpaulins had blown off, leaving the home waterlogged and rotting. After 18 months of exposure, the house was in a sad state, its verandah hanging by a thread.

“I looked at it and burst into tears,” Harley admits. “I drove back home wondering what I was going to do.” He sought solace on the beach, and suddenly, the path forward became clear.

“I thought, ‘Ok, Harley, this is the moment where you rebuild, and this house is a symbol of that.’

It was, in a way, my phoenix moment, which is why I call it the Phoenix House.”

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The building’s dilapidated state dictated a new approach. Instead of repairing and reinstating what was missing and renovating the kitchen and bathroom, Harley came up with the idea of pulling the house apart, discarding what was rotten and then putting the remaining pieces back together in a different way – like one large, sustainable jigsaw puzzle.

“I realized that I needed to treat the project like a remix album,” he says. “And to reuse everything we could.”

As each piece came off, it was itemized and stored under the house. At the same time, plans were drawn up for the house’s rebirth. What had once been a simple two-bedroom cottage with a wrap-around verandah was to be radically reimagined.

Central to Harley’s plan was capturing northerly views across the street to the large playing fields opposite and, beyond those, the sea. This meant bringing the living zone to the front of the house, with the kitchen on what had originally been the westerly return verandah. Three bedrooms now sit off a central hallway that begins just beyond the living and dining area. On one side are the kids’ rooms, with doors in each opening into a second living space built behind the kitchen. On the other is Harley’s room and, behind

ALTERATION + ADDITION

01 A wide verandah and stair provide a “vital” connection to the street and the broader community.

02 The kitchen splashback uses the original casement windows, which were turned on their sides.

Artworks (L–R): Caitlin Reilly, John Cottrell.

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Phoenix House is built on the land of the Arakwal people of the Bundjalung nation.

3 Byron Bay, NSW

Alteration + addition

Family

3 +1 (granny flat)

it, a second corridor that leads past the powder room and main bathroom to a sheltered side porch that houses the laundry.

“This house was an exercise in restraint,” Harley explains. “It’s a three-bedroom house, and yet it’s only 140 square metres. The main living room is only 3.6 metres wide. If I did that to my clients, most of them would lose it. But I wanted to show that you can have these small spaces and small houses that feel big.”

Two elements extend the size of the living area. The first is a section of the original verandah, which stretches across most of the front of the house, overlooking the garden and a small but beautifully detailed swimming pool. For Harley, this “special place” where he often sits provides a vital way for him to connect to the life of the street and the broader community.

The second expansive element is a skylight above the living zone. Keenly edged in steel and lined with timber, it rises up from the roof plane, following the same pitch of the roof, to frame views of the sky and scoop light into the interior.

“It’s one of the heroic moments in the house,” says Harley, “and it was about me wanting to show that this was a modern take on the Queenslander.

Queenslanders always have verandahs coming down low to protect you from the elements, and you never get to see the sky from inside the house. To capture that triangle of sky is, for me, really important. It’s a joyous moment.”

Clipping off the eastern return of the verandah allowed a secondary dwelling to be squeezed onto the site: a narrow and tall one-bedroom studio – a prototype for a tiny home. Clad in black vertical boards and featuring windows salvaged from the old house, the tiny home’s dark form frames the newly rebooted white cottage beside it. But it’s the timber of old Queenslanders, not their airy windows, that holds the greatest appeal for Harley.

“This house is one big, beautiful piece of joinery,” he says, adding that it’s made from “a bunch of aged hardwood, which is almost impossible to get now.”

The Queenslander is among the most wellknown typologies of the Australian house. This remixed version respects its form and honours its craftsmanship and materiality while adding a contemporary sensibility that’s both relaxed and playful.

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2 +1 (granny flat)

Site 506 m² Floor 140 m² Studio 50 m²

Design 7 m Build 9 m

Per m² $3,600

Products Roofing: Bluescope Zincalume; steel hoods and skylight wrap

by Brothers Fearon Fabrication in black powdercoat External walls: Existing hardwood weatherboards; Weathertex timber cladding painted in Dulux ‘Stowe White’ and ‘Night Sky’ Internal walls: Existing hardwood VJ panelling; Weathertex timber cladding painted in Dulux ‘Stowe White’ and ‘Night Sky’ Windows and doors: Spotted gum frames by Eastpoint Joinery in Cutek Matt; existing doors Flooring: Existing Baltic pine refinished in matt wax Lighting: Vintage 1970s pendant; custom up-and-down lights with Signorino terrazzo panels Kitchen: American oak and sheet brass joinery by Nailed It Kitchens and Joinery; terrazzo benchtop from Signorino in ‘Bianco Nove’; splashback made from recycled casement windows; Astra Walker Icon tapware in ‘Eco Brass’; ABI sink in ‘Brass’; Fisher and Paykel cooktop, oven, rangehood, dishwasher and refrigerator Bathroom: American oak and sheet brass joinery by Nailed It Kitchens and Joinery; Astra Walker Icon tapware in ‘Eco Brass’ and Pura basins and toilets in ‘Ghiaccio’; Inax Reitz Nicho wall tiles from Artedomus; Fibonacci Stone floor tiles in ‘Flannel Flower’ Heating and cooling: Concealed split system from Daikin External elements: Concrete pavers in Holcim ‘Lighthouse White’; Austral GB Polished and Honed masonry blocks in ‘Porcelain’ Other: Tasmanian oak and leather Clover sofa by Simon Ancher Studio; custom American oak dining table

by Harley Graham Architects

PHOENIX HOUSE

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03 A skylight above the living zone draws the eye upward.

Artworks (L–R): Micheila Petersfield, Dion Horstmans.

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04 The verandah and skylight extend the living space and make the house feel more voluminous.

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05 An art studio (L) adjacent to the main house offers adaptability for future occupation and is a tiny house prototype.

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Architect Harley Graham Architects +61 2 6680 9690 office@harleygraham.com harleygraham.com

PHOENIX HOUSE

Project team Harley Graham, Verity Nunan Builder Morada Build Engineer Josh Neale, Westera Partners Landscaping Grant Boyle, Fig Landscapes Joinery Nailed It Kitchens and Joinery

YA R R A B E N D HOUSE

BY AU ST I N M AY N A R D A RC H I T E CTS

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Pragmatic and playful, this considered renovation’s adaptable design supports long-term connection to community and enables its owner to sustain her independent lifestyle into retirement.

Words by Marcus Baumgart Photography by Derek Swalwell

Beginning a piece of journalistic writing with a dictionary definition is something of a tired trope, but after meeting architect Andrew Maynard and his client Jane at the Yarra Bend House in Clifton Hill, I was compelled to look up a formal definition of the word “holistic.” The best version I could find defined holistic to mean an entity where the “parts of something are interconnected and can be explained only by reference to the whole.”

This is a pretty good starting point, and not only because of the qualities of Yarra Bend House itself. It also draws out consideration of the entire ethic and methodology of Andrew’s practice, Austin Maynard Architects, as a creative business. After all, these elements are also “parts of the whole” when significant architectural works are understood to have lives that extend far beyond their specific envelope of time and space. What comes before and after the time of production and construction, and what is located on, near and further away from the site of the work, are all parts of the equation.

Jane has lived within 200 metres of her current house in the inner Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill for more than 35 years. After a change in life circumstances, she was determined to continue to live in her chosen home – this neighbourhood – for as long as physically possible in retirement. Austin Maynard has crafted her new home to precisely honour this intention.

This is not a minor observation. There is an intentional consistency – an absolute affinity – between Jane’s life intentions and those of her architects.

This is not surprising. Jane chose Austin Maynard having seen Andrew speak in various settings and having read some of his writing, perhaps even his excellent “Work/life/work balance” essay, published by Parlour. She investigated their folio and engaged them accordingly. A sound basis on which to build, then, both literally and conceptually.

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YARRA BEND HOUSE

Yarra Bend House is built on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people.

1 Melbourne, Vic

Alteration + addition

2

Retiree

Jane’s chosen narrow Victorian terrace house also represented a solid basis on which to commence work. It was well understood by the Austin Maynard team. With the site unsurprisingly subject to a heritage overlay, Austin Maynard chose to separate old and new with a distinctive “cleft,” a small courtyard garden in the middle of the lot.

The front of the original terrace has been retained and reorganized.

A small street-facing study (Jane’s favourite window on her world/neighbourhood) is the first room found beyond the front door. A second bedroom suitable for future use by Jane and her beloved dogs, who might eventually find the stairs a little too steep as they gracefully age, represents a key concession to allow for “aging in place,” as social policy documents awkwardly describe it. This bedroom faces the courtyard with a north-facing box window.

A bathroom next to the bedroom will support Jane’s future downstairs occupation, and the whole setup is great for visitors in the meantime.

The airy new wing at the rear of the house is a two-level, solaroriented extension, with the living room, practical kitchen and dining area on the ground floor. These spill out into the north-facing yard, with its delightful cottage-slash-native garden. Jane’s bedroom, ensuite and studio are all located upstairs. The studio is not for the creation of art so much as a versatile secondary living space with an excellent northern outlook. It has also turned into an impromptu yet perfectly formed venue for practice sessions of the local amateur choir, of which Jane is an enthusiastic member.

While Jane may not create art in her new home, she is the custodian of a fantastic collection, and the house interior has been specifically tailored for the collection’s display. Jane can live happily with and within her collection every day.

I have seen many new houses and renovations over the past decade as a design journalist – nearly a hundred, in fact. I have realized that many contemporary Australian architects seem to strive for a slightly ill-defined, modernist-inflected, non-specific type of universalism in their “product.”

Andrew, his co-director Mark Austin and their team don’t do that, and they certainly don’t attempt to do everything in a project. They are far more selective, with a focus that is very client centric.

Andrew and Mark don’t doggedly pursue timeless minimalism, they don’t dabble with a world-weary irony, and they don’t shape their design work around perfectly styled Instagram “moments.” This last observation remains true no matter how well they use the tools of social media, and I have observed that the firm does use them a lot, and with enthusiasm.

What they do instead is create a playful and, yes, holistic architecture, in the best sense. If we are to take sustainability seriously, we need to allow the word to mean much more than merely dealing with energy, water and other technical systems, and dry carbon accounting. The everyday meaning of the word needs to be reclaimed – what can be sustained? Most importantly, this reclamation needs to address the method of production (practice culture) and its product as two indivisible – dare I say, holistic – halves of a whole.

Finally, what has Austin Maynard’s work really created here? A happy client with a lifestyle she can sustain long into retirement.

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ALTERATION + ADDITION

2 Site 205 m² Floor 150 m²

Design 12 m Build 12 m

Per m² $7,700

Products Roofing: Lysaght Custom Orb in Colorbond ‘Surfmist’ External walls: Lysaght Custom Orb in Colorbond ‘Surfmist’; recycled bricks; aluminium screen powdercoated in ‘Surfmist’ Internal walls: Paint in Dulux ‘Lexicon Quarter,’ ‘Black,’ ‘Hockham Green,’ ‘Murray Red’ and ‘Bayleaf’; blackbutt V-groove boards; metalwork powdercoated in ‘Surfmist’ Flooring: Concrete slab in ‘Salt and Pepper’; existing timber boards in Bona Traffic ‘Natural’; Victorian ash tongue and groove boards in Bona Traffic ‘Natural’ Lighting: Delta Light Gala wall light from Inlite; Magus LED track lights from About Space; O-lamp wall light from Sphera Kitchen: Joinery fronts in blackbutt V-groove boards and 2-pac in Dulux ‘Hockham Green’; Signorino Laminam in ‘Bianco’ and terrazzo slab; Fisher and Paykel appliances; Hafele bin and storage system; Blanco sink Bathroom: Brodware Yokato tapware; Reece Kado Lux toilet; 2-pac vanity in Dulux ‘Hockham Green’ (ground floor) and ‘Murray Red’ (first floor); Signorino terrazzo benchtop and Kohler sink (ground floor); Corian benchtop and sink in ‘Cameo White’ (first-floor) External elements: Bluestone paving from Eco Outdoors

01 On the first floor, an exterior aluminium screen frames the view and filters northern sun.

02 This lattice controls overlooking and conceals the awning that shades the ground floor patio.

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YARRA BEND HOUSE

Porch Entry Study Bedroom Courtyard Kitchen Living Dining Outdoor living Garden Laundry Multipurpose room

03 A courtyard marks the transition from old to new. Artworks (L–R): Christopher Churchill, Julie Nangala Robinson, Lin Onus.

04 Joinery is concealed beneath the stair, maximizing space and utility on a compact site.

05 A first-floor bedroom, bathroom and multipurpose room are planned for future adaptability.

Artwork: Two Bob Tjungurrayi.

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06 A voluminous first-floor room can be used for sewing, reading or choir practice. Artworks (L–R): Two Bob Tjungurrayi, Margaret Valentine.

07 On the first floor, the bathroom is concealed within a timber-wrapped box.

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Architect Austin Maynard Architects +61 497 020 635 hello@maynardarchitects.com maynardarchitects.com

YARRA BEND HOUSE

5m

Project team Andrew Maynard, Mark Austin, Kathryne Houchin Builder Dimpat Engineer OPS Engineering Surveyor Code Compliance

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Skeehan Studio

An inherent curiosity about raw materials and a commitment to the craft of designing and making drives the ethos of this Canberra-based studio.

FURNITURE DESIGNER

Words by Linda Cheng

Tom Skeehan, founder of Skeehan Studio, is insatiably curious about the materials and processes in design or, put simply, what things are made from and how they are made.

The Canberra-based designer, who started out in carpentry, cabinet-making and woodworking, has a detail-focused mind that drives him to explore new ideas and innovations in furniture design.

“London-based designer Benjamin Hubert has a beautiful mantra: ‘material driven, process led.’ I’ve always looked up to his work throughout my career,” Tom says.

“A lot of what we try to do is to slow down the design process and actually have the opportunity to play, to meet with our manufacturers and to form relationships where we can trust them and they can push us to explore new ways of bending timber, or more sustainably harvest a particular wood. All of this comes from stepping back from that process and trusting some of these partners.”

One such partnership was with the maker of Skeehan Studio’s Nave range. The distinctive stitch on the corners of the seat cushions came from a suggestion

by the upholsterer, and the detail was then emphasized and celebrated throughout the seating collection.

“I wanted a really soft, rounded seat cushion – that’s where we started. But it’s quite hard to get fabric to curve around all three sides of a corner on a cushion,” Tom recalls. “We worked really closely with our manufacturing partner, who broke it down in a really elegant and simple way.”

The solution came from the tennis ball, which is covered in two pieces of fabric shaped like the number “8” that are then stitched together to wrap a sphere. “The manufacturer thought this stitch was really obvious, but I thought it was unique and beautiful. We then pulled that language into the other elements of the chair, as well as the rest of the range,” Tom explains.

The New Volumes commission from Artedomus gave Skeehan Studio the opportunity to explore a material it hadn’t previously worked with in furniture design: Elba marble. The Bacchus coffee table is part of a series of pieces by various Australian designers commissioned to celebrate

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STUDIO

01 Skeehan Studio founder Tom Skeehan.

02 The Nave chair features a tubular steel frame and a distinctive stitching detail.

Photographs (01–02): Mrs Fray.

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the raw material. “We tried to understand it a little bit more through its supply chain, the quarries and how people work with it,” Tom explains.

“As it turns out, the way that the craftspeople work in marble is quite similar to timber, although it’s a lot slower.

So we started to think, ‘If this was made in wood, how would we approach it? And what are some of the inherent qualities in marble?’ I love how tactile marble can be.

“That led us down the path of designing a big bowl at one end of the coffee table that became a leg – but in reality, that bowl was supposed to be the centrepiece that you could serve guacamole in or place a flower arrangement in. No matter what, you’re drawn to the middle of the table and to the material.”

One of Tom’s ongoing projects is a design for a folding chair that, despite being exhibited in Milan and New York, is still in development – a testament to Tom’s pursuit of perfection. “To pull it off, we will need to learn more about sustainability, pushing materials to their limits and being really clever in our manufacturing,” Tom says. “But that chair has the opportunity to change the way we think of furniture design in the home.” skeehan.com.au

03

03 The Bacchus coffee table is crafted from Elba marble and was designed for the New Volumes collection

by Artedomus.

Photograph: Sean Fennessy.

04 Skeehan Studio’s designs are refined through close collaboration with its manufacturers.

Photograph: Adam McGrath.

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SKEEHAN STUDIO

15/Love House

by Cumulus Studio FIRST HOUSE

The global financial crisis was just beginning to make ripples in Tasmania when my fellow co-founders and I decided to move on from our current employment to start Cumulus. This apparent anti-timing for establishing our studio was complemented by our lack of projects, prospective clients or an office, as well as our geographical separation – my wife Jenn Heggarty and I were in Launceston, while Kylee Scott and Peter Walker were in Hobart.

But instead of being a hindrance, this distance nurtured a space for constant and open conversations during early project development and collaboration. We shared our perspectives on design and function, and engaged in robust discussions on particular door handle choices – and we learned constantly (mostly at night and during long Skype calls), all of which fit our initial idea for Cumulus perfectly.

As with many first projects for a young firm, ours came through word of mouth, a passing conversation.

Angela was the owner of a peculiar piece of land, the site for her family’s new home: a tennis court that had been subdivided from a neighbouring block, on a leafy street near the heart of Launceston. In her own words, the block was everything that you didn’t want: restricted, poor orientation, challenging. But she had experience renovating houses and had worked closely with a drafting service, builders and others in the industry. She knew the site had potential. Her family’s new tennis-court home would be her first project with an architect.

By the time we met, Ange had already drawn up what she wanted. She had a clear vision of a space that would fit her young and growing family and their social lifestyle.

Through these first conversations, I understood that having light throughout the house and flexible spaces was more important than sheer square metres or number of rooms.

Having a young family of my own gave me an insight into our first client’s needs. I assumed that the tennis-court site would not allow for a truly open design, and so I worked on some sketches of a two-storey, courtyard-style home, which were a welcome surprise for Ange.

Although Tasmanian architecture is not synonymous with this style, the courtyard design works well in our part of the world, as it provides protection from Launceston’s unpredictable weather and strong winds while

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Undeterred by the dual challenges of the global financial crisis and geographical separation, the four co-founders of Cumulus Studio took full swing at their first residential project: a family house in Launceston, built on the site of a former tennis court.

Words by Todd Henderson Photography by Jonathan Wherrett

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Driveway Garage Car port Store Entry Playroom Bedroom Study Laundry/pantry Kitchen

11 Dining 12 Living 13 Outdoor living 14 Courtyard 15 Balcony 16 Walk-in robe 17 Void 18 Light well 19 Roof

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still inviting ample natural light into the interior.

The courtyard model also allowed us to freely pivot the house on the narrow block, turning its unassuming “back” to the street and opening up both the outdoor and indoor spaces to the north-east. I remember taking the rough cardboard model to one of our first meetings and placing it meticulously on the tennis court, giving Ange a good idea of how the house would interact with the sunlight.

I’ve heard that the model has survived the test of time and has featured in two or three of her kids’ school projects.

15/Love House – named in tribute to the tennis court – was a great opportunity not only to create an interesting design within a challenging site, but also to work with an open and receptive client. Because it was our only project, I spent quite a bit of time on the design.

We were essentially in the middle of a worldwide recession

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and, at times, it felt like this design may be our fledgling studio’s first and last. But those early days also allowed for quiet reflection over the drawings, a focus on the fine details and the kernels of the design; those moments can be harder to find on larger works or when juggling multiple projects.

As a design borne through long-distance conversations and drawing revisions, and holding models up to webcams for critique, the project – and the processes that we put in place during its evolution – formed the foundation of Cumulus’s style of collaboration. It helped us understand how to work across our offices despite the distance, which we continue to do today between our offices in Launceston, Hobart, Melbourne and Adelaide. That experience of working in isolation from one another is something that has only become more relevant in the past couple of years, as we navigate this post-pandemic world.

15/LOVE HOUSE

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01 The design adopts a courtyard house model that is wellsuited to Launceston’s variable climate.

02 Living spaces wrap around the courtyard garden, maximizing access to natural light.

03 A void above the kitchen supports a vibrant and social family life.

04 From the street, the house reads as an unassuming form.

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Architect Cumulus Studio +61 3 6333 0930 launceston@cumulus.studio cumulus.studio

FIRST HOUSE

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Project team Todd Henderson, Peter Walker, Kylee Scott, Guy Edwards Builder Nicholls Constructions Engineer AJL Consulting Engineers Joinery Impact Kitchens Landscaping by client

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ESPLANADE HOUSE

BY CLARE COUSINS ARCHITECTS

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Responding to a heritage setting and an uncommonly large inner-suburban site, this robust and sculptural home weaves together house and garden to achieve comfort and intimacy.

Words by Alexa Kempton Photography by Sharyn Cairns

When designing houses in a heritage context, one challenge for architects lies in devising a contemporary home that sits respectfully in its setting, yet without imitation or pastiche. A strong but sensitive street presence was a predicament for Clare Cousins Architects in the design of Esplanade House, which occupies a prominent site on an uncharacteristically wide street in Melbourne’s Clifton Hill.

This sweeping street traces the intersection of Clifton Hill with the Merri Creek and its adjacent park, and so the house is one that will be seen by many passersby who frequent the park and creek, their numbers undoubtedly bolstered in the pandemic era of daily neighbourhood walks and outdoor recreation.

The house’s owners, long-time residents of the area, were cognisant of the responsibility that comes with building a new home in a suburb almost entirely covered by heritage overlays. In their brief to Clare Cousins Architects, they sought a house that would be harmonious with its setting, at once surprising and uncomplicated, with simple lines and a sense of permanence.

They wanted comfort, colour and texture, and asked that the garden be integral to the design.

Esplanade House’s public facade comprises two cream brick volumes that are formally distinct yet materially connected. Though their forms are unquestionably contemporary, they are also congruent with the streetscape, revealing how opportunity can be prised from the conventions and constraints of planning regulations. The requisite for a diagonal setback – reflecting the site’s angled street boundary – has resulted in two staggered forms, with a void between the two elements signalling the front gate. The stipulation for windows proportionate to those of the Victorian-era neighbours has been interpreted as a triptych of vertical windows in the northern volume. In the southern volume – an enigmatic structure with heritage-compliant gable roof – the window has morphed into a composition of hit-and-miss brickwork, its perforations the only openings visible from the street. The singular material palette celebrates the subtle tonal and textural variations of recycled brick, while the fine detailing reveals the restrained and meticulous design hand of the Clare Cousins Architects team and the diligent construction skill of the builder, Overend Constructions.

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ESPLANADE HOUSE

Esplanade House is built on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people.

5 Melbourne, Vic

New house

5

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+ 1 powder room

Beyond the threshold of the front gate lies a front garden, from which the family can access the utility shed, used for bike storage. Solidity gives way to generous openings in this walled outdoor space, with large, blackbutt-framed windows overlooking the garden from the children’s wing and the guest bedroom. A slender path skirts the edge of the southern volume and lures you toward the house’s entry, where a dramatic two-storey-high curving wall scoops to enclose the front door. The entry is the fulcrum of the plan, and from here the home’s spatial arrangement is unfurled. Two long, rectilinear volumes converge at the entry, and pull apart in opposite directions to maximize garden outlook and connection on a long site. A second door leading into the rear garden affords the visitor a surprisingly fleeting experience of this compressed entry point before they are drawn out to outdoor space.

A connection to garden was an essential component of the brief.

Practice director Clare Cousins talks about how the plan “weaves house and garden together, avoiding the conventional layout of house at the front and garden at the back.” The result is a series of drought-tolerant walled gardens

by Fiona Brockhoff Design, which offers different outdoor settings and creates links and vistas from all rooms of the expansive house. At the rear of the site, a large productive garden is partially screened by an almost ruinous brick wall, with openings that enable glimpses between it and the main house. A studio adjacent to the veggie gardens is a space to expand into, leaving open the possibility of subdividing it in future as a separate residence for adult children.

Though the house is generously sized, it has been broken up into discrete zones to achieve comfort and intimacy. Living and sleeping spaces are organized to permit the family to live together but apart, reflecting the changing needs of three teenage children. The children’s bedrooms and living space occupy the northern portion of the house, which is pulled away from the boundary to allow for the inclusion of doors and an outdoor bench outside each room. A side gate provides independent access, giving the children freedom to live at home into early adulthood. The guest bedroom can accommodate aging grandparents if required, and has its own separate entry via the front garden. Upstairs, the main bedroom and study provide spaces for rest and retreat.

There is an unquestionable robustness to the materiality of this house.

The cream bricks – many of which were salvaged and reused from the old house – and concrete floors are a durable backdrop to spirited family life.

They are softened by the graceful curving walls that arc through the centre of the plan, and the introduction of earthy blues and greens to the interior finishes, particularly the muted forest green stain on the kitchen cabinets.

Judiciously planned for multiple modes of occupation, Esplanade House is a remarkable home that has been shaped by the constraints of the site and the iterative process of working with the clients, refining their qualitative brief into a confident and sculptural architectural form.

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NEW HOUSE

Site 1,172 m² Floor 451 m²

Design 14 m Build 18 m

Products Roofing: Lysaght Trimdek in Colorbond ‘Surfmist’ External walls: wal s: Recycled bricks in cream; blackbutt cladding Internal walls: Recycled bricks in cream and in Dulux ‘Natural White’ Windows: Viridian Lightbridge glazing; blackbutt frames and sills Flooring: Artoz custom carpet; concrete Lighting: MFL By Masson Tanimi GU10 Up/Down wall sconce from Beacon Lighting; Ambience Lighting Pitch surface-mounted; Unios Shift Out downlight; Jardan Mae pendant Kitchen: Tundra Grey marble; Fisher and Paykel French door fridge; Falcon induction oven; Qasair Lismore rangehood; Brodware City Stik mixer in chrome; American oak veneer in custom green stain; blackbutt ceiling Heating and cooling: Fanco Urban 2 fan from Universal Fans External elements: Castlemaine slate crazy paving Other: Hay Soft Edge stools

01 The house establishes a strong connection to the street while also enfolding private domestic space.

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02 Green-stained timber cabinets in the kitchen add tonal and textural contrast to the brick walls.

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10 Courtyard 11 Pool 12 Vegetable garden 13 Studio 14 Garage 15 Shed 16 Compost 17 Study

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Utility room Entry Lounge Bedroom Library Laundry Kitchen Dining Living

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03 Walled gardens are used to create outlook and connection on a long, narrow site.

04 A robust interior palette suits the clients’ wishes for an effortless and enduring home.

Artwork: Kay Cornell.

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05 Living spaces are staggered across the site, preserving intimacy and human scale on a large site.

06 Bedrooms are zoned to enable the family to live together but separately.

07 Openings in the garden wall frame views between outdoor spaces.

08 Curving walls add softness to the monumental brick structure.

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Axonometric (not to scale)

Architect Clare Cousins Architects +61 3 9329 2888 studio@clarecousins.com.au clarecousins.com.au

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Project team Clare Cousins, Oliver Duff Builder Overend Constructions Engineer Next Engineering Landscaping Fiona Brockhoff Design

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By underpinning a deceptively simple plan with considered design details, the architect of this transformed Sydney semi has delivered a family home full of convivial corners.

Words by Casey Bryant Photography by Tom Ferguson

Throughout the inner suburbs of Sydney, semidetached cottages are prolific. As the terrace house dwindled in popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century, the “semi” took its place as a source of inexpensive housing. Its modest design and simple planning allowed speculative builders and family investors to enter the market. Semis were a means of housing an increasing population, but because they were primarily a mechanism of economic growth, they were not very well designed.

Today, the semi is a focus for many young families who want to live in inner-suburban Sydney – for whom anything larger is proving to be grossly unaffordable. After buying a semi, the task is to take a 60–100-year-old building that was originally considered a commodity and turn it into something with the amenity and facilities of modern homes. Aspiring renovators discover that accessing light, air and outlook is difficult.

They then come across the challenges of maintaining “streetscape character” and “neighbourhood amenity” as they flick through the controls of their local council.

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Clearly, the transformation of a semi is difficult, and it often requires creative solutions.

Marrickville House by Studio Weave Architects is an exemplar of this transformation done well. It demonstrates how a skilful architect can balance all these concerns and synthesize them into a deceptively simple yet elegantly crafted box, nestled into the neighbourhood.

The planning of this house is clear and logical. The semi’s original front rooms and corridor are maintained as bedrooms, a bathroom and a laundry. At the rear is a new open-plan living room, above which is a third bedroom, study and ensuite.

It is a straightforward plan that fits neatly on the site.

Look closely, though, and you will discover several careful design details that make these spaces wonderful to be in.

Between the old rooms and the new, a thin light well has been created to accompany the new stair.

This space is lit from above with a large window and allows light to cascade down into the living spaces.

Below the stair, a bench wraps the semi-sunken living

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01 The timber bench and built-in window seat ensure a small space can be occupied in numerous ways.

Artworks (L–R): Amanda Schunker, Diana Miller.

02 The use of recycled Australian hardwood and a brass splashback bring a rich warmth to the interior.

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Marrickville Laneway House is built on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

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room, beside which a window box holds a built-in seat.

These two spots are places to perch and have conversations – or hide away in a private nook. They hold the edges of the room and extend the space, allowing an otherwise small room to feel much larger.

Across the room, the northeast corner folds and slides away to reveal the garden. This feat of complex door joinery does away with a corner column and allows diagonal views outward. Such an opening is deceptively difficult to achieve but feels essential to this room, and draws you toward the exterior space.

The surrounding garden, while small, encircles the house and serves as a backdrop to the kitchen and living spaces.

Upstairs, highlight windows wrap all the rooms. The glass leans back on thin steel supports, perpendicular to the exposed metal of the skillion roof.

This form is reminiscent of iconic 1990s rural houses by the likes of Glenn Murcutt and Peter Stutchbury, evoking a charm that transports your mind away from the suburbs.

The outlook of this upper level is carefully controlled. Operable solid timber panels on the northern facade prevent overlooking into the neighbours’ property and ensure privacy for the upstairs bedroom. At the rear, a fixed glass window frames a view of the large tree that dominates the backyard.

Pulling all these details together is a carefully considered material palette. The floating box that is the addition is made almost entirely of recycled Australian hardwood. The “hero material” of this house graces its walls, doors, windows, floors and joinery, bringing a rich warmth to all the rooms. The marks and scars worn into the timber boards are celebrated – and reflect the romantic qualities of the old houses they now sit among.

Such extensive use of recycled timber also means that fewer raw materials were used in building this house, and perfectly good hardwood was diverted from landfill. In addition, the design makes space for a rainwater tank in the side passage and does away with airconditioning in favour of natural cross-ventilation.

This little jewellery box of an extension is testament to the value of good design when renovating a semi. Thoughtful consideration and trust in the architect have led to a family house that is a joy to be in. Beautiful materials, careful openings and creative pockets of space come together to elevate a humble semi into something much more.

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2 Site 183 m² Floor 201 m²

Design 16 m Build 10 m

Products Roofing: Lysaght Custom Orb in ‘Zincalume’ External walls: Cemintel Barestone in ‘Raw’; recycled tongue-andgroove blackbutt from Australian Architectural Hardwoods finished in Cutek Extreme CD50 in ‘Natural’ Internal walls: CSR plasterboard in Dulux ‘Natural White’ Windows: Double-glazed windows with recycled timber frames by Architectural Hardware Joinery in Cutek Extreme CD50 in ‘Natural’ Doors: Recycled timber doors by Architectural Hardware Joinery in Cutek Extreme CD50 in ‘Natural’ Flooring: Recycled blackbutt floorboards from Australian Architectural Hardwoods in ‘Satin Poly’ L ghting: Audrey and Giselle Lighting: downlights from Boaz Australia; LED Lux Kube wall lights and Foro stair lights from Beacon Lighting Kitchen: Timber benchtops by Architectural Hardware Joinery; brass splashback by Axolotl in ‘Pearl Patina’; cabinets by A&M Kitchens in ‘Natural White’; Fisher and Paykel integrated refrigerator; Bosch dishwasher; Smeg oven and cooktop; Brodware Manhattan tapware in ‘Brushed Nordic Brass’ Bathroom: Fibonacci Stone floor tiles in ‘Pavlova’; Academy Tiles wall tiles in ‘White’; vanity by A&M Kitchens in blackbutt; Lilli wall basin in ‘White’; Vola toilets; Brodware Yokato tapware in ‘Brushed Nordic Brass’.

Heating and cooling: Haiku ceiling fans from Big Ass Fans External elements: Bluestone paving and stepping stones from Cinajus; besser-block permeable pavers 03 The addition is carefully oriented to draw in light and air and frame neighbourhood views.

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Architect Studio Weave Architects +61 431 918 245 info@sweave.net sweave.net

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Project team Davin Turner Builder CML Building and Constructions Engineer SDA Structures Doors and windows Architectural Hardware Joinery

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In North Perth, a creative subdivision subverts the area’s typical infill pattern by prioritizing outdoor space and generously opening to the neighbourhood.

Words by Rachael Bernstone Photography by Jack Lovel

When architect Jimmy Thompson saw a 256-square-metre block listed for sale in North Perth – as he prepared to fly home from an overseas trip – he sketched out a design on the plane and purchased the block shortly thereafter.

As design director at MJA Studio, which has offices in Perth and Melbourne, Jimmy has made a significant contribution to multiresidential developments as well as the ongoing conversation around density and amenity in Perth, a city widely known for its urban sprawl and car dependency. For this project – the first house he has designed for himself and his partner – he wanted to present an alternative to typical subdivisions, which have doubled the density in Perth’s established suburbs while significantly reducing the tree canopy and biodiversity.

Jimmy drew inspiration from precedents by Marshall Clifton (a Perth-born architect active from 1926 to the 1970s) and Julius Elischer (who migrated from Hungary and practised from 1957 until 1986). “They both sought to design a vernacular style of housing for Perth that drew on Mediterranean houses,” Jimmy says. “Their homes featured whitewashed, bagged brick walls, and Elischer’s courtyard typology offered security to the external boundaries.

In this case, we used the full setbacks of the R-Codes [Perth’s residential design provisions] and softened the edges with planting, not paving.”

MJA Studio’s contemporary iteration is tucked behind the site’s original dwelling but doesn’t feel hemmed in, thanks to primary access off the rear laneway. The sense of openness is enhanced by a neighbouring pocket park (part of a green corridor that runs the length of the adjacent street). The home’s upper level – comprising kitchen, dining and living spaces and an outdoor terrace – takes advantage of views to the city skyline, further accentuating the expansive feeling.

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01 The house occupies a battleaxe block, increasing density yet also enhancing the site’s biodiversity.

02 First-floor living spaces open to a roof terrace and frame city views.

Jimmy’s House is built on the land of the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation.

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The ground floor is more introverted: the main bedroom, ensuite and generous studio space (which could be converted to two bedrooms in future) open to the central courtyard, and the main bathroom is tucked beneath the stairs. The fourth side of this rectangle is a covered outdoor space with a secluded bath, dining area and kitchen. It features a hit-and-miss brickwork wall for light and ventilation and partially opens to the park via a sliding door and security shutter.

The exterior material palette is carried inside, with glazed bricks and concrete walls and floors reducing the need for additional finishes and ongoing maintenance. Dark timber joinery evokes shadows and tempers Perth’s bright sunshine.

A single covered car bay off the laneway is internally disguised by mirrored doors that conceal extensive storage, and most spaces open to dense gardens. The courtyard features medicinal plants and a leopard tree that extends through the void to the second-storey roofline. The perimeter gardens are edible and feature 12 trees, including stone fruit, citrus and almond.

For the rooftops, endemic Western Australian species – especially those that thrive in poor soil and high temperatures – were chosen to withstand the exposed conditions. Thompson engaged regenerative agriculture specialist Byron Joel (of Oak Tree Designs) for the edible gardens and landscape architect Christina Nicholson (of Banksia and Lime) for the rooftop sections. These outdoor spaces cater to different times of day and seasons throughout the year, and their adjoining interior spaces were designed for maximum operability.

From a comfort point of view, the house offers good passive performance, thanks to cross-flow ventilation and a thermal chimney beside the staircase. In the morning, the couple closes all the windows and doors to reduce the heat load, while the shutters exclude sun from the spring to autumn equinox. The glazing is opened at night to purge heat from the building.

Unusually for a small-scale residential project, Jimmy collaborated with others, including Amy McDonnell (design manager at Assemble Building Co.) and Sally-Ann Weerts (from Studio Roam), on the documentation and construction phases. “This procurement model was critical to the success of the project because the builder – Mitch Hill of Assemble, who is also an architect – actively joined in the collaboration, and added value and commitment to the outcome every step of the way,” Jimmy says.

In putting forward this alternative model for the densification of Perth’s existing suburbs, did Jimmy make any discoveries that could inform future infill housing in the city? He concedes that it can be difficult to order an Uber because the registered address is on the street, not the rear laneway.

But aside from this inconvenience, living here has been a highly positive experience, and the uncommon design has prompted conversations with neighbours, families in the park, dog walkers and passers-by.

“Another unexpected element became apparent the first night we moved in, when we saw the view through the tree to the moon,” Jimmy recalls.

“I hadn’t planned that! I’ve always lived in 100-year-old houses, so living here feels like being on holiday in a hotel. It’s also shown me that what I tell my clients is true: good design matters.”

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Site 256 m² Floor 140 m²

Design 15 m Build 15 m

Per m² $4,714

Products Roofing: Concrete green roof by builder External and internal walls: Common bricks from Austral bagged in ‘White’; Camilla glazed bricks from Austral in ‘Smashing Blue’; recycled spotted gum from Austim, dressed and hand-brushed Windows: Cortizo double-glazed windows from Casver, frames powdercoated in ‘Black Ace’; Breezway louvres from Casver, with clear and opaque glass, frames powdercoated in ‘Black Ace’ Doors: Cortizo double-glazed sliding doors from Casver, frames powdercoated in ‘Black Ace’; front and back door pulls from Joseph Giles in ‘Solid Brass Hammered’ Floor ng: Burnished concrete Flooring: Lighting: Vitra Akari paper pendant; Ilus Planar outdoor lights; Volker Haug Anton and Wall Step lights in ‘Raw Aluminium’ Kitchen: Oven, cooktop and dishwasher from V-Zug; Dekoplus cabinets in Dekolor matt laminate; fluted glass from Glass Australia; Franke sink in ‘Onyx’; Sussex tapware in ‘Living Brass’; refrigerator from Sub-Zero; concrete benchtop by Concrete Society; recycled timber from Austim; Camilla glazed bricks from Austral in ‘Smashing Blue’; custom brass plate by builder Bathroom: Concrete outdoor bath by Concrete Society; outdoor tapware from Reece; concrete basins from Nood; Sussex tapware in ‘Living Brass’; Meridian toilet in ‘White’; Lauxes channel grate in ‘Midnight’; heated towel rail and mirror from Kado Heating and cooling: Cheminee Philippe fireplace; sunscreens

by All Style Engineering; Haiku fans from Big Ass Fans External elements: Stepping stones from Slab and Garden City

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03 The courtyard carefully balances the needs for privacy, ventilation and solar protection.

04 Seasonal outdoor spaces cater to different times of day and year.

05 A robust material palette reduces the need for additional finishes. Artworks (L–R): Helen Teede, Mary Dhapalany.

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Architect MJA Studio +61 8 9388 0333 admin@mjastudio.net mjastudio.net

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Project team Jimmy Thompson, Sally Weerts, Amy McDonnell, Mitch Hill Builder Assemble Building Co. Engineer Atelier JV Landscaping Oak Tree Design with Banksia and Lime Lighting JSB Lighting

Find out more phone us today on 02 8303 0100 | Visit www.rockson.com.au

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Bathroom: Pandolfini Architects Photography: Rory Gardiner

YSG Studio IN PROFILE

Eclectic and versatile, the work of YSG Studio rebuffs architectural minimalism and conventional design “rules” to revive our sensorial perception and amplify the emotive potential of residential design.

Words by Sing d’Arcy Photography by Prue Ruscoe

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It’s hard not to be excited by YSG Studio. The practice’s work is like a great song that makes you want to turn up the volume and listen to it on repeat. Fed up with the bare white walls and grey concrete floors that define so much of Australian residential design, YSG Studio aims to revive our sensorial perception with colours, compositions, textures and stories – and people are hungry for it.

YSG Studio was established in 2020 by Yasmine Saleh Ghoniem. Despite a clear passion for performing, having been singing and dancing since the age of four, Yasmine was convinced by her parents to pursue academic study. She first studied visual communications in Dubai and then fine arts and interiors in the USA. Subsequently Yasmine worked in several architectural firms, finding herself gravitating toward architectural illustration and the hand-drawn aspects of the design process. Leaving the USA, she undertook a year of international aid work before returning to Australia and focusing on hospitality and residential projects. Together with her sister, landscape architect Katy Svalbe, she co-founded Amber Road in 2013, a multidisciplinary design firm that worked across all scales from landscape through to interiors. Yasmine says that the seven years of Amber Road were valuable in allowing

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01 Yasmine Saleh Ghoniem believes that clients approach YSG Studio in search of something different.

Artwork: Nick Santoro.

02 In Polychrome House (2018), a fearless use of colour reflects the client’s commitment to joyful living.

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her to work on larger-scale projects and across all design typologies, and that the experience has ensured that YSG Studio is “flexible about the realities of the day-to-day.” In 2020, Katy returned to Perth, and Yasmine decided it was the right time to launch her own eponymous studio with a focus on architecture, interiors, furnishings and experience design.

Notions of identity and belonging as experienced by many multicultural Australians figure in the rationale of her practice. As the daughter of an Egyptian father and Australian mother, Yasmine lived a nomadic childhood and says, “I’ve never felt at home … being an outsider has felt natural”. She wants YSG to “carve out a niche … to think outside the box and not follow trends” and credits YSG’s success to the work’s distinctiveness, stating that “clients chose to work with me because they want something different and I’m different!”

Within the context of Australian design, this means rebuffing the architectural minimalism that is the dominant paradigm of residential interiors. YSG embraces a “global aesthetic” that celebrates “romanticism and eclecticism” and creates homes that, according to Yasmine, are “animated and passionate” with a strong connection to client.

YSG likes to collaborate closely with clients.

In Polychrome House (as Amber Road, 2018), the design

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03 The expressive colour and material scheme, developed with Lymesmith, complements the original 1960s house.

Mural: Lymesmith.

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was developed to allow the client to self-build many of the elements, such as the flooring. In Crane in the Sky Apartment (2020), the client’s keen interest in art and fabrics meant that the interior had to allow for the integration and display of these elements. YSG was not afraid to “reassess the fundamentals,” incorporating an element of scenic art in the main bedroom ceiling. Yasmine sees that creating “emotive drama in a space” is an essential feature of good design.

The small-scale 1906 Apartment (as Amber Road, 2018; see Houses: Kitchens and Bathrooms 14) is a showcase of the studio’s inventive approach to design. The brief was to replan a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment to accommodate an additional bedroom and bathroom. To perform this feat of magic, the conventional ideas of what defines bedrooms and bathrooms needed to be questioned.

Instead of walls, joinery and sliding screens delineate spaces.

Yasmine drew on her Egyptian heritage, referencing the mashrabiya screens that filter light from the outside while preserving visual privacy on the inside. She notes that Australian light and climate have much more in common with those of the Mediterranean than with those of Scandinavia, and as such YSG’s designs pay close attention

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04 In Crane in the Sky Apartment (2020), walls were removed to maximize spatial flow and usher in natural light.

Artwork: Ken Done.

05 Careful attention has been paid to window treatments and light control at 1906 Apartment (2018). Photograph: Felix Forest.

06 Timber screens function as moveable walls in the apartment, allowing the living room to convert to a guest bedroom. Photograph: Felix Forest.

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to window treatments and light control. Of the apartment’s dark colour palette,Yasmine says, “[T]his isn’t bold …we should consider black as the inverse of white.”

Yasmine has worked across numerous design typologies while practising as Amber Road and as YSG, finding that many commercial clients come back to her when it is time to design their homes. The owners of the Dream Weaver Apartment (2020) are also returning clients, having previously worked with Yasmine on the design of their family home. In the apartment, they sought a home that would reflect the way they wanted to live as empty nesters, and they knew that YSG could realize this for them. The existing interior was typical of Sydney speculative development: white walls and ceilings. The first tactic YSG deployed was to add warmth in colour and texture in surface. The floors were tiled in limestone and the main wall in the living space clad in handmade Moroccan tiles. Deep plum, iris and magenta were used as strong contrasts. The result transports us a few degrees south in latitude, from crisp white Scandinavia to the warm Mediterranean. The strong, grid-like geometry that governed the design of the existing apartment was used a motif for the detail in YSG’s redesign. Squares within squares at different scales create a dialogue between the elements, some flat, some textured and some shiny. As in the 1906 Apartment, the apartment reveal’s YSG’s fascination with interiors that both perform and transform. A granite lazy Susan swivels out for use at the kitchen bench, while

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07 The studio delights in custom touches, including the leg detail on the Dream Weaver dining table, designed with Adam Goodrum.

08 For Dream Weaver Apartment (2020), YSG transformed a typical speculative development into a playful home.

09 Colour and texture counterbalance the crisp architectural shell and demarcate zones in the open-plan living area. Painting: Cannon Dill. Sculpture (behind vase): William Versace.

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10 A heritage-listed sandstone corner store is converted into a family home in Soft Serve (2021).

11 New additions enhance the original walls, engaging in a “robust” dialogue with history.

12 YSG’s interiors are vibrant, eclectic, open and versatile. Artworks (L–R): Lauren Kerjan, Rune Christensen.

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a custom-designed drinks trolley is wheeled around as required, tapping into the clients’ love of all things playful.

One of the things that pleases Yasmine the most about Dream Weaver Apartment is that a friend of the clients stated that YSG had captured their essence and “designed their personality.”

The finished result of Soft Serve (2021) may look effortless, but this appearance belies the complexity involved in re-imagining the heritage-listed three-storey building. The sandstone structure was suffering from an unsympathetic and unworkable 90s renovation, and YSG had to find a way of making it a home. Firstly, the ground-floor living spaces were rationalized by creating a unified floor level that ties the kitchen, dining and outdoor areas together. Yasmine explains that YSG believes in a “robust” dialogue with history in order to achieve a workable outcome. This approach ensured that the most important aspects of the heritage building were respected and highlighted in the new design while still allowing for a contemporary mode of living.

YSG Studio’s aims to “set a mood rather than an aesthetic” is translated into interiors of vibrancy, eclecticism, openness and versatility. The identities of designer and client are melded to create an unashamedly expressive approach to residential design that is unbound by conventional design “rules”. In a society that often talks of celebrating diversity and difference, it’s so refreshing to see a design practice that embodies this positive energy and isn’t afraid to dance to the beat of its own drum. ysg.studio

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Fisher House

by Alistair Knox

In the bushy Melbourne suburb of Warrandyte, the modular design of Alistair Knox’s Fisher House (1970) has been sensitively updated to retain its celebration of the unique Australian light and the surrounding “sun-evolved” landscape.

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Words by Tobias Horrocks Photography by Sean Fennessy

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With a career that spanned from 1946 to 1986, builder and designer Alistair Knox (1912–1986) was a proponent of buildings that were wholly of their place. “The quest to express the region has always been my prime aim …

I believe that a building in existence should be a piece of the environment it is in,” Knox wrote in Australian Regional Building.

Knox was a leading figure in the revival of mud brick construction – a resourceful technique in the postwar period, when conventional building materials were both scarce and expensive – and he honed and refined this line of enquiry over his career. Whether he was manipulating the local earth, stacking industrially fired clay or constructing buildings from readily available recycled materials, his houses were always carefully integrated with the natural landscape.

The Fisher House, designed in 1970 and located in the bush suburb of Warrandyte, 25 kilometres from central Melbourne, is an iteration of the series of more than 1,000 houses Knox designed, of which around 350 were realized.

Most of Knox’s houses were built in the neighbouring suburb of Eltham, and he is credited by the Victorian Heritage Council as an influential figure in the development of that suburb’s distinctive residential environment. Though not constructed from mud bricks, the Fisher House reveals Knox’s vision for environmental buildings that were firmly of their place.

Little is known about the Fisher for whom the house was designed, but the original drawings are for a modest, one-bedroom brick residence. Knox’s plan shows an almost temple-like symmetry, the building’s four corners visually anchored by thick square brick piers. Unfortunately, these details were lost when the house was sold in 1976 and additions filled in the verandah overhangs to the north and south. Despite these early alterations, the house remained relatively untouched for the next 45 years – ideal conditions for a contemporary renovation designed in 2021 by architect Adriana Hanna for photographer Sean Fennessy and stylist Jessica Lillico. This renovation has sensitively, respectfully updated the house.

Restoring the landscape was the single most profound way of conserving and respecting Knox’s vision.

In the garden, non-native species have been removed and replaced with local microclimate-appropriate indigenous plants. Knox, who was a founding member of the Australian

01 The Fisher House, designed in 1970

by Alistair Knox, has been carefully renovated by Adriana Hanna. Artworks (L–R): Emily Ferretti, Zoe Grey.

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Institute of Landscape Architects when it was established in 1966, framed his musings on the relationship between humans and the earth in spiritual terms. “The sun-evolved landscape must extend into the building, which is man’s acknowledgement of mystical realities infinitely greater in power and concept than himself,” he wrote in an essay entitled “Environmental Building”. “The close relationship between the floor level and the immediate outside is the first essential in organic design. It produces the reality of the individuality of house and land in a way nothing else can,” he contended in a chapter on mud bricks in Australian Regional Building. Knox had taught himself concrete slab-on-ground construction during the 1940s, although it was standard by the time the Fisher House was designed.

And, unlike mud brick, there had been no local precursors.

The way the paved floor extends from inside to out is one of Fisher House’s many enduring qualities. The window wall is oriented for views down the sloping site so that only trees can be seen, right to the horizon. Two 250-millimetre square timber posts that support the roof above the window wall have a raw, rough-hewn finish; the marks of a hand-wielded adze are still visible in the surface.

It’s probable that these posts were reclaimed from a demolition site somewhere: a typical Knox tactic that, like his use of adobe methods, was only engaged when viable

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03 Disinterested in the latest trends, Knox looked to the outbuildings on surrounding farms for inspiration.

04 The clerestory window was a universal feature Knox used to create contrast between light and shadow.

Artwork: Boris Bućan.

05 Through the window wall, the view down the sloping site is one of trees all the way to the horizon.

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and appropriate. The relative cost of labour and materials fluctuated with Australia’s economy throughout the four decades of his practice.

While the open planning, extensive use of glass, modular repetition of elements, exposed structure and “honest” use of materials could be seen as modernist traits, Knox was generally unimpressed by the futuristic and experimental houses produced by some of Melbourne’s more famous, academically trained architects. Knox undertook his own research into early colonial precedents, citing Francis Greenway as an inspiration and praising Greenway’s handling of proportion, his sophisticated use of brick and his urban design method of composing each building in harmony with its context. Other influences were Frank Lloyd Wright and Walter Burley Griffin – who, like Knox, designed with an intimate understanding of construction, engineering and the craft of assembly.

Rather than follow the latest material and technique trends dominating postwar suburban house design, Knox “took to studying the anonymous farm out-buildings around the nearby hills,” he explained in chapter 10 of Australian Regional Building. “They had both personality and power.

And of course they were truly indigenous, ingenious, and highly functional at the same time.” For Knox, the best Australian buildings responded to the climate and unique quality of light with a careful consideration of shadow, one demonstration being the use of the all-surrounding verandah.

While his interiors were always raw and natural in tone,

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06 For Knox, the best Australian buildings responded to the climate and the unique quality of the light. Artwork: Emily Ferretti.

07 A level floor between the interior and immediate exterior was essential to Knox’s designs.

08 New elements, including the kitchen, are deliberately difficult to distinguish from the original.

Artwork: Ita Tipungwuti.

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Original floor plan, drawn by Alistair Knox (not to scale)

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For Knox, the best Australian buildings responded to the climate and unique quality of light with a careful consideration of shadow, one demonstration being the use of the all-surrounding verandah.

sunlight was abundant, and the clerestory window was a ubiquitous design feature, making the angled ceiling planes softly glow.

Inside the house, the new work has reinstated some of the openness shown in the original plans. The main bedroom and associated walk-in robe were needlessly large for a three-bedroom house, so this space was reorganized to add a second bathroom. Enlarging the kitchen and opening the circulation paths around the chimney created an opportunity for a uniform brick floor, but the original design shifted from brick to much thinner terracotta tiles in the former laundry, so part of the floor slab was demolished and repoured prior to installing more brick. Rewiring was another invisible expense; it entailed removing the sheet roofing to access the narrow space between purlins and ceiling lining. In the final result, however, it is deliberately hard to distinguish old from new: added elements like the kitchen, built-in lounge and entry-screen display shelves are in keeping with Knox’s aesthetic.

The only overt change was to the interior brick walls, which were roughly “bagged” in white to change their colour yet keep their texture. Many of Knox’s mill-sawn timber and brick interiors, which he left unpainted, have been whitewashed by new owners; Sean knew they didn’t want to do that, saying the bagged brick offers “a bit of relief from the layers of brown” while creating a finish that is reminiscent of mud brick. A single curved wall – a white, tiled partition that deftly divides twin shower recesses – transgresses Knox’s rational modular system, and it’s hidden in the new bathroom and laundry spaces.

These subtle and sensitive modifications to the Fisher House honour Knox’s passion for natural materials, skilled yet pragmatic construction, and connection to the immediate landscape. In carefully reworking the house to suit contemporary living, its new owners have celebrated the enduring relevance of Knox’s ideas. Simple construction that harmonizes built spaces with natural landscapes – how could that ever lose its appeal?

09 Restoring the garden around the house was the single most important way of preserving Knox’s vision.

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FISHER HOUSE

10 Knox’s belief in the simple construction of spaces in harmony with the landscape has lived on.

10

Design team (original) Designer Alistair Knox and associates Engineer Gordon Doering

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REVISITED

Design team (renovation) Architect Adriana Hanna Builder Plan Build Co Landscaping Miniscapes Joiner Anthony Kleine

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02

03 01

The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

From empty pools in Iran that symbolize a bygone era of hedonism to civic buildings in India transformed into residential communities, the built artefacts that inform these artists’ works reveal how broad social and political change impacts domestic space.

EXHIBITION

Words by Penny Craswell

Architecture, space and the city are rich subjects for artistic practice. The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art’s tenth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art is a future-focused edition, encompassing work by more than 150 individual artists from 30 countries in the Asia Pacific region. The curatorial statement introduces a show that is “rich with stories of how to navigate through time and space, reimagine histories and explore connections to culture and place.” With this remit, it makes absolute sense that several of the works in the show have overlapping themes with architecture and the built environment.

Three artists in particular deal with questions of architecture and space through three-dimensional form.

Iranian artist Nazgol Ansarinia’s Connected Pools is a series of sculptures in gradations of blue plaster inspired by swimming pools, the blue symbolizing water. The work is inspired by the many pools in Tehran built for middle-class families prior to the Iranian Revolution in 1979 that were subsequently seen as a sign of lavish hedonism and that now languish, disused and empty. Despite land being a high-value commodity in the city, these voids remain, a symbol of the physical and social chasms that remain in contemporary Iran.

Through her works, Ansarinia explores a possible future in which these pools may be used once again.

Also exploring the social aspect of housing in the city, this time in Kolkata, is Indian artist Rathin Barman.

Notes from Lived Spaces is a series of sculptural pieces that

expresses the interiors of residential spaces as blocks of pigmented concrete – the upper forms in a terracotta red and the lower pieces in grey. Barman spoke to members of the communities in Kolkata’s migrant neighbourhoods to research how families occupy and restructure the interiors of the city’s existing buildings, adapting them to suit their daily lives, their cultural practices and their economic necessities.

While Ansarinia and Barman are preoccupied with the political and social aspects of real-world architecture, Japanese artist Koji Ryui’s works are more speculative.

Citadel is a wondrous installation of abstract forms, figurines and other recognizable shapes such as coffee cups and champagne flutes, which have been coated in sand.

Whimsical and humorous, Ryui’s works climb a seven-metrehigh wall in the gallery, transforming mundane household objects into a fantastical cityscape – the artwork’s name itself, Citadel, carries the connotation of a grand fortresslike structure in a fairy tale.

While the design of buildings is the substance of architecture, experiencing the built environment is everybody’s business – and its intersection with politics, family life and even fiction has proved inspirational for these artists.

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The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) is on show at QAGOMA in Brisbane until 25 April 2022. qagoma.qld.gov.au

POSTSCRIPT

01 Nazgol Ansarinia, Connected Pools (2020). Courtesy the artist and Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan. Photograph: Lorenzo Palmieri.

02 Rathin Barman, Notes from Lived Spaces 18 (2021).

Courtesy the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photograph: Merinda Campbell, QAGOMA. 03 Koji Ryui, Citadel (APT10 installation view, 2021).

Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA.

Architect: Harley Graham Architects / Photography: Andy Macpherson

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