Red’s manner of living, as seen by this project. Summed up into three main points; 1_ the relevance of the past in the sense that it is always there and yet to move forward you must destroy it. 2_ that Red treats his home as a retreat from the outside world 3_ that Red sees the home as a place of three main functions somewhere to sleep, to bathe and to live. Everything else the ‘man’ has to go into the world to be or do.
A P ERS EPDE CH TO IMVEE
Red Symons. Musician, entertainer, broadcaster.
SCALE OF RETREAT
_ PROGRAMS OF PRIVACY
But does that matter when it comes to his home? LEVEL 1
LEVEL -1
Yes and no. His home is the place where he can be none of the things mentioned before. The place where he can shed those restrains and allusions. A place where Red can be Red, where he can — as he said in an article — be no one too.
EXIT/ENTRY
ENTERTAINING SPACE
But inherently that means his home is entirely dependant on who he his. This home needs to make him feel removed, detached and in a place that feels his own. This is not a home of context, this is a home out of context, that seeks to be a retreat, somewhere that is its own and where Red can be on his own. In a lot of ways this scheme deals with the past and the present, their disconnect and contrast as well as the points at which they collide. The tension in their collision is the vein of the project, where existing walls hit, intersect and displace the walls of the intervention.
SPARE BEDROOM
The scheme’s primary concerns are as a result that tension between new and old, history and future — Red’s past and his present.
OFFICE/STUDIO
KITCHEN
BATHROOM
LIVING SPACE BEDROOM
RELICS
RETREAT THRESHOLD A DAILY ROUTINE
This presents through the entry threshold — drawn out and elongated, almost a ritualistic move from the street to the front door and into the living. This is diagrammed through a set of intersecting Axes; the entry and living, set at right angles from one another, at front door and through the courtyard the scheme transitions red form the regular, gridded order of the outside to the intervention’s order, then at the entry point the scheme transitions Red again from entry to living through the curved wall and ceiling height change; the door swings into the living space meaning Red must close and block the outside before moving onto the living axis. Old and new are contrasted in the expression, order and angle of the intervention — a box of a dark concrete, which permits a gradient of view moving up the entry axis through careful angled windows which address the steps up to the entry. The main internal gesture is the displacement of the existing back wall of the box, it is reabsorbed as the housing for the vertical circulation and the fireplace — the heart of the home. The interaction between new and old sets each apart from once another — the red bricks salvaged from the back wall sit at odds with the intervention, breaking through its floor and roof, providing access to below and views to the sky above. Sectionally, the deep threshold presents itself in three layers of retreat — the ground level steps up to the entry and living and then a decent is required to reach the bedroom and more private living. The body of water that dissolves the ground plane in the courtyard is both symbolically a moat and a physical barrier between the order of the street and the order of the intervention. The courtyard is not designed as a habitable space, in face the opposite. The courtyard is a mediator, a threshold to move through to gain access to the living spaces and retreat. It is, in its more in the manner of the street than of the internal spaces. The lower ground is detailed so that it is another set of order in opposition to both the existing and the intervention — this is a subterranean realm. The mass of the intervention can be felt above, the main walls given the appearance of bucking under its weight, it sits on the edge of the existing brickwork with few other points of visible structure. Light is permitted in the gap between new and old. The existing brickwork wall’s foundations are exposed and the body of water from the courtyard laps at the living space’s window, visually reinforcing the idea of being underground. Picking up on these cues, it is hoped Red will feel the deepest sense of retreat, tapping into a primal sense of safety in the hollowed out mountain side. Red’s retreat takes him from the outside — from the past, the people and the lack of anonymity — to the internal — where he is in control, not forgetting the past but not held there either, out of sight, where he is primally and primarily a human.
C P T I V E PO E SN PC EE C
SKINNED
BACK WALL DISLOCATED
BOX INSERTED
WALL RECONFIGURED
RE-ABSORBED
DWELLING FRONTAGE ON GEORGE ST
BACK WALL SHARD RE-ABSORBED
DWELLING GARAGE ON GEORGE ST DWELLING FRONTAGE ONTO OTHER STREETS
INTERSECTED BOX
7 = TOTAL NUMBER OF STREET ADRESSES ON GEORGE ST EXISTING BOX
SUBTERRANEAN MOAT EXPOSED FOUNDATIONS
12
65
5
5
57
11
FE
NW
K
ST
ST
DY
A GR
O
IC
28 USE . No D HO RE
TO CLIFTON HILL STATION
E
G OR
GE
ST
TO MELBOURNE CBD
S ITE 1:500 @ A2
PLAN 0
5 10m
E X I ST I N G CON D I T I ON S
NG
VI
LI
IS
AX
Y
TR
EN IS
AX
A X E S & G RI D
EX I ST I N G & I N S E RT I ON
GEOM ET RY 1:100 @ A2
&
O R DE R 0
1
2
5m
Main bedroom
Main bedroom
A P H R E S PT EM S PO ES C TE I V
Developmental model used to clarify the front facade system, explore the penetration of the back brick wall through the floorplates and the differentiation in levels from the existing natural ground.
C P T IM PO E SN PC EE C V OE D E L