THE BACKBLOCKS
backblocks |’bakbl0ks| plural noun (the backblocks) Austral./NZ land in the remote and sparsely inhabited interior: [ as modifier ] : backblocks roads.
Preface The following essay is a platform for my future goals as a designer. As a student of architecture I am yet have the knowledge, expertise or extensive experience to offer answers to new theories in the discourse of architecture. The majority of content taught in my education so far has generally been large-scale architecture, set in foreign urban landscapes by foreign architects. I left my undergraduate degree with a feeling of total disconnection to the local vernacular, as well as a gap in exploration into smaller scaled non-urban architecture. The focus of my education in architecture thus far has been based on a technological approaches to design, thinking that a computer has the ability to solve design problems. I reject this approach to design and believe that pragmatic skills in exploration, material knowledge and practical hands on experience would be more beneficial. I want to design simple, functional buildings, using a vernacular tool set in a contemporary manor. I want a little slice of paradise, tucked away deep in a valley, wedged between two mountains or out on the coast an hour’s drive from the shop. As a designer I want to engage with people who care for craft and community over consumerism. Minimalism not in design but in the idea of necessity of living is a statement of ethics to counter contemporary consumer culture. Quality design doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, but investment in good design will produce longevity in its relevance in living. I believe that to gain the most enjoyment in life you need to surrender a little comfort to get there. Comfort shouldn’t be seen as a large house with the latest flashy things, rather a house designed on what you need, which facilitates comfort. This is an attempt to align myself with my future aims as a designer. Nicholas du Bern.
-Backcountry Trip to Chancellor Hut Fox Glacier, New Zealand 2010.
As the suns rays creep their way up the opposing face of the glacier, the reality of where you are sets in. You are perched at the edge of a rocky outcrop, 20 meters from a massive drop down to the glacier beneath you. The cold that you haven’t felt all day due to the exertion on your body has made itself known. You open the door to the hut and enter. The shelter is simple. A timber framed hut clad in corrugated iron with a gabled roof. The hut has a big bench table with two bench seats and 6 bunks with canvas covered mattresses. As trees don’t grow above the snow-line in New Zealand, there is nothing to burn in a fireplace and so alpine huts have no heating. After changing out of your snow gear and into your dry set, you have an early dinner in the fading light. You find a box of trivial pursuits from 1963, you rattle off a few questions to the others, after all answers have been exhausted you hunker down into your sleeping bag and fall straight to sleep. Just as the sky is being lightened by the predawn sun you are woken by the sounds of what seems to be children laughing, then you can hear the sound of claws scraping down the roof only to see the head of a Kea (a native mountain parrot) which is hanging upside down from the gutter and looking in through the window. Soon there is a whole circus of them looking in the window at you as you get up to make some coffee. Movements are planned in sequence in an environment like this, there is no casual walk to bathroom in bare feet at 2am. The toilet is 20 meters below the hut on a frozen path where one slip could mean falling over a 200m cliff to certain death. Your comfort levels change in this environment and your connection to nature is beyond obvious. The realisation that you are a passing visitor in this setting and you realise how powerless humans are against nature.
Staying in Chancellor Hut on that trip made me question my personal beliefs in what we really need to facilitate the notion of comfort and necessity in the structures I live in day to day.
- A circus of Keas on the roof at dawn.
- Mt Brown Hut Newton Ranges, New Zealand. (Blair)
The following discussion will focus on the architecture in rural and remote environments and some of the key factors that govern their outcomes. Building in the backcountry creates some unique design challenges which are effected by the sites condition and position, materiality, construction method, craftsmanship, and the relation of space in terms of necessity and comfort. The examples of structures used in this text will be primarily huts, bachs (small holiday house) and seasonal dwellings.
SITE: The Backcountry Hut is a simple, small structure that is stripped back to bare necessity. It is usually set in a remote setting and most commonly accessed on foot. The location of many huts and where they are situated poses the biggest design restriction and complications. Due to the lack of access for equipment, machinery, materials and contractors are now normally flown in by helicopter (traditionally everything was carried in on foot). The main limiter is the carrying loads of the helicopter used. The design of back country huts are prime examples of utility and function driven design. Historically Huts were tiny, normally only having space for a single set of bunks, a small table and a stove. Overtime with more of an invested interest in tramping (hiking), hunting and conservation, huts are continually being refurbished and the construction new huts continues every year. Modern times has seen huts becoming slightly larger and more equipped depending on the frequency of use and location but huts are still considered simple and small structures.
- Sefton Bivvy Aoraki, New Zealand. (Sefton Bivvy, 2014)
- Angelus Hut Nelson Lakes, New Zealand. (De Ruyter, 2010)
The users of a hut will have to invest physical energy in their effort to reach the hut. Due to this exertion, experience of the harsh realities of being exposed in nature and understanding of difficulties in building in such a place, I argue a hut can change a user’s idea of comfort and necessity of the space, after experiencing a hut in the remote nature. When you have been walking all day in the rain or snow, your gear is wet and your feet and back are feeling the day’s endeavor, a rudimentary hut looks and feels luxurious. This is often enough to soften urban ideals of necessity of dwelling. If the Hut was in an urban setting, it would be considered cold, noisy, dark, small et cetera, but a hut in a remote setting it is seen as a refuge which is warm, dry, and comfortable. This shows that setting is an integral part of the interpretation of a design and its fulfillment the requirements of comfort and necessity.
- Climbing out from Chancelor Hut Fox Glacier, New Zealand. - Books are the TV of the backblocks.
- Hut in the City. In the urban context, the hut looks more like a home for a homeless person than a backcountry shelter. This image grounds the reality of what we really need in a dwelling and questions the modern Idea of comfort in urban dwellings.
Prefabrication and the use of helicopters has been one way to remove the remoteness of a site. Areas previously inaccessible due to terrain have now been opened up to the realm of architecture. Architects are now far more involved in the design of huts and backcountry structures. Although the size of prefab units are still restrained to the size a helicopter can carry, the quality of structures being built in hard to reach places has risen.
- A Sikorsky CH-54 Skycrane lifting a house showing the possibilities opened by using helicopters. (CH-54 Tarhe)
- Diogene, Pre-fab Shelter by Renzo Piano. (Runge, 2014)
- Pre-Fab Mountaineering Hut by LEAP Factory. (LEAPrus 3912, 2014)
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- A Prefab Icewall Pod being flown to site. - An Icewall Pod on a skids in Antarctica. (Australian Arctic Division, 2003)
- Cabine Hôtelière Mobile. A mobile hotel cabin designed by Ionel Schein 1956. (Laugginie, 1957)
- Capsule House K Designed by Kisho Kurokawa, Japan. by LEAP Factory. (Ross, 1978)
- LC-30X Leisure Capsule. Designed by Kisho Kurokawa, Japan. (Ross, 1978)
The idea of minimalism as an architectural style in contemporary society is often seen as boring, plain or austere. The counter could be argued in term of a minimalist living style driven by the idea of necessity. Minimalism can produce a mentality where ethical questions of want versus need are answered (Schittich, 2005). The size of dwellings, materials used in construction and finishes can all be investigated as to their indispensability. The idea of building simply can be elegant, economical and completely function as shelter for day to day living. - Hut of Aluminum Designed by Konstantin Grcic for Muji, a Japanese retail company. These huts are prefab, transportable, minimalist, flat-pack holiday home at an affordable price. (Muji Hut, 2015)
- Hut of Timber Designed by Naoto Fukasawa for Muji. (Muji Hut, 2015)
Huts are normally at the extreme end of remoteness. Bachs, holiday homes and sheds (simple back country retreats) are normally less limited to access and so are larger and more extensively equipped structures but are still simpler and smaller than a regular urban dwelling. The classic kiwi bach is a kind of structure that embraces the connection between the environment and architecture. The bach is a holiday home near the beach, lakes or mountains where the aim is to get out into nature. Architecture can interact with nature in a number of ways but the opening up to nature can be as simple as the replacement of walls with movable door-like partitions to outside. This way of interacting with nature is reiterated all over the world as shown in the following images.
- Coromandel Bach by Crosson Architects. (Reynolds, 2002)
- Gullichsen Holiday Home Southwest Archipelago, Finland. (Jetsonen, 2008)
- Chicken Point Cabin by Tom Kundig. (Ngo, 2006)
- The Brain by Tom Kundig. (Ngo, 2006)
- Tekapo Bach by Nott Architects. (Nott Architects, 2010)
CRAFT: The attention to detail in architectural design can turn the once ordinary or elementary into an refined and exquisite outcome. New Zealanders have a saying called “number 8 wire” which was the old 4mm fence wire that was used inventively by farmers to fix just about anything. The saying “number 8 wire” epitomises the inventive, creative, and thinking outside the box type of attitude that comes with living on a remote south pacific island. This do it yourself frame of mind crosses over into architecture in the form of craft and innovative design. The Hut on Sleds bach by Crosson Architects is a prime example of an ingenious piece of architecture that responds to site in an original way. As the name describes, this bach is located on a beach front property that is at risk of erosion from the seas waves, to eliminate the risk of losing the bach into the ocean, the dwelling is built on sleds so that a tractor may drag the house to safety. This bach also encapsulates the idea of the hut as its small, simple and functional. (Crosson Architects, 2012)
- Hut on Sleds by Crosson Architects. (Meiring, 2012)
- Wenger’s Trigon A-Frame This A-frame had been beautifully detailed with playful touches like a sunken, concealable table and tri-fold windows. Designed in 1955. (Randl, 2004)
- Wenger’s Trigon A-Frame Bedroom. (Randl, 2004)
MATERIALITY: Materials are a major part of architecture, and the impact from material choice is a key indicator to a designers approach to meaning. Materials hold physical, aesthetic, as well as cultural properties. A general misconception of material choice is the cost as a reflection to qualitative design approaches. Architecture does not only deal with the aesthetics of structures, but more importantly as a functioning shelter from one’s environment. The choice in a materials function I argue outweighs that of aesthetics. Many of the building examples shown could be considered vernacular materials of post-colonised Australia and New Zealand. Corrugated Iron and sheet metals have a deep history of use in Australasia, traditionally used rural agricultural applications, over time corrugated iron became the most commonly used roofing material in urban areas. It is cheap, light, strong, corrosion resistant and a very versatile cladding or roofing envelope. In contemporary Australia and New Zealand, corrugated iron is now architecturally engrained into the cultural identity of these cousin nations. This Identity also reflects in two nations that were seen in their formation as isolated enclaves at the end of the world. Being so far from the industrialised might of the mother land meant the people living in these lands needed to be resourceful and inventive in many aspects of life and architecture was one aspect.
- Permanent Camping by Casey Brown Architects. (Casey Brown Architects, 2007)
- Mt Irvine House by Glenn Murcutt. (Cooper, 2002)
Glenn Murcutt took a practical and vernacular approach to the house designed at Mt Irvine in the Blue Mountains, NSW. Access to this site was via a long and narrow winding gravel road. This meant that materials that could fit into a short wheel-base truck could be delivered to site. The key to his design there was easily sourced, cost effective and transportable materials. The main materials used in construction were Australian hardwoods and corrugated iron. Due to the factors mentioned above Glenn Murcutt states “These components formed what I considered a limited yet appropriate pallete.� (El Croquis Editorial, 2012) These building restraints not only created viable access to the site but also mean cheaper building outcome dues to low material costs and ability to use smaller construction crews with no need for expensive lifting and construction equipment. Designing with local, cost effective materials can create amazing outcomes as Glenn Murcutt shows time after time with his own versions of the Australian vernacular.
- Fredericks House, NSW by Glenn Murcutt. (Cooper, 2002)
- Marika-Alerton House, NT by Glenn Murcutt. (Cooper, 2002)
SPACE: Although there is a large shift in the idea of micro living in urban centres, I wish to explore the governing factors in smaller living spaces in a rural or remote setting. As mentioned previously, the size of shelters in rural or remote settings can be attributed to access to site, cost of labour (charging at a higher rate if labour needs to stay on-site), weather conditions, the intended length of use at a time et cetera. The reasons why the structures are small does not mean they are any less successful in their outcome. The reason for someone wanting to be in a remote place is normally to be surrounded by nature and get away from the urban setting. The size of some remote structures are benefited in promoting ones interaction with nature. Thomas Kundig explains a small space well when talking about his Gulf Islands Cabin “It’s so small you have to go outside. That’s the point!”. (Kundig, 2011)
- Gulf Islands Cabin, Canada by Tom Kundig. (Kundig, 2011)
A way in which one best utilises space within a small building is to use any space possible for a purpose. The gabled roof is a very common roofing typology, typically in suburban dwellings, this space is taken up by extensive trussed structure but in huts this areas is utilised as a space for sleeping. This triangular space may not be enough room to stand up in, like a normal room but in line with the idea of pairing back a building to pure function, bed rooms are used for sleeping and so these rooms are only really used when resting. This utilisation helps in the reduction of the overall size of a building without losing any function. Heat also rises so in cold climates these places are the warmest in the shelter.
- A-Frames often make good use of a loft space. (Randl, 2004)
- Gullichsen Holiday Home Southwest Archipelago, Finland. (Jetsonen, 2008)
CONCLUSION: There are a number of things that designers can take away from shelters in the backblocks. I argue the idea of comfort and necessity withing architecture is a cultural construct. The common belief of ones needs of comfort in the urban setting is driven by more than the ability to be sheltered. An experience of the backblocks gives the user a more realistic feeling of life in balance on earth. We have become creatures of luxury and in our quest for the more, we have lost the simple pleasures in life. A back country hut has far greater restraints placed upon permanent habitation but one does not need to stay in the backblocks for long to gain a better feeling for how weak we are to natures power. After experiencing the harsh realities of an untamed environment, the user is more likely to understand the pared back nature of these simple shelters, and in turn embrace the simplistic amenity available to them. The size of the building, and the lack of urban comforts only reiterates the most probable reason being there in the first place, an alternative motive of the city is to be engulfed in nature. The positive attributes of these remote structures can be woven back into the urban setting by a designers approaches to a building. By thoroughly considering the attributes of a hut through materiality, craftsmanship, setting (the vernacular), space and size, a design outcome can become more humanised response to our needs as apposed to our wants.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Tekapo Bach, 2010
Nott Architects, Digital Photographs, Viewed 25/09/2015, <http://www.nott.co.nz/tekapo-bach>
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NICK DU BERN SN: 394200.