issue #26 habitusliving.com
Ageing beauty Why have a copper house when copper ages so quickly? Then again, why not? NICKY LOBO visits a tiny fibro shack in SYDNEY, NSW re-imagined by TAKT | STUDIO FOR ARCHITECTURE into a burnished coastal gem. TEXT NICKY LOBO | PHOTOGRAPHY SHANTANU STARICK
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PREVIOUS | WEST FACADE OF THE HOUSE, THE LOWEST LEVEL, WHICH REVEALS THE SMALL SCALE COPPER CONTAINER WITHIN ITS BACKYARD SETTING, YET ALSO HIDES THE HIGHER VOLUMES BEHIND. ABOVE | CONTEXTUAL OVERVIEW, RELATIONSHIP OF VOLUMES TO SITE. ALSO SHOWING THE HEAVILY PLANTED SOUTH WALL, THE THREE WESTERLY FACADES, AND THE NORTHERN STEEL EAVE OVERHANG. OPPOSITE | ENTRY VIEW, SHOWING TRANSPARENCY THROUGH THE HOUSE.
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indful is the perfect word to describe this tidy, serene and lustrous project. So it makes complete sense that Jeremy, the owner of the seaside cottage just a few hundred metres from Coogee Beach, met architect Brent Dunn of TAKT | Studio for Architecture at Sydney Buddhist centre. The two, along with Brent’s business and life partner, Katharina Hendel, initially considered renovating the original 1890s fibro shack. It sits at the back of a long, narrow site, and the main house sits at the front. “It’s very unusual to have a freestanding cottage, completely selfcontained,” says Jeremy. Awkwardly arranged, not using the narrow site to its best advantage, and very dark inside, the original was “rough and rustic, but had a lot of charm,” he says. Once they made the decision to completely rebuild it, the first challenge was to convince Randwick council that they should in fact be allowed to. Brent and Katharina pored over records at the local library to build their case. “We found all the rates notices from the 1920s, and these describe the site as having been improved with a cottage and a garage in addition
to the main house. There was some suggestion that the cottage predated the subdivision, but we were unable to confirm this,” says Katharina. They eventually convinced the council that a new structure would be a continuation of tradition, and received the go-ahead. Then the design development began. The steep, narrow site encouraged a particular form to emerge – a series of three stepped boxes. This form had a number of benefits. It meant the cottage could extend in length – if it had remained on one level, it would have cast too much shadow and created privacy issues over the neighbouring properties. It maximised views and light, affording each of the three levels a window on the western side. And it allowed clever overlapping of the boxes to create crucial internal storage space in the 60-square-metre home. To maintain a sense of simplicity, TAKT devised a visual rhythm through repetition of a 600mm structural grid. The steel frame defines the main sections of the building. The top level, lounge and kitchen, is 10x600mm panels long, the middle level – where you enter – comprising bathroom and extremely compact second bedroom, is 9x600mm panels long,
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and the main bedroom, on the lower level, is 5x600mm panels long. Just 14.6m long in total and a tidy four metres across. The panelled approach also addressed the challenge of building on such a small, steep site. “Every single steel piece had to be carried by hand,” recalls Brent. “We put the slab in, then the metal framing was pre-fabricated and erected in a number of days. The roof went on and then everything else could be done under cover.“ As the owner/builder, Jeremy’s experience with the art of zen came in handy. ‘There was no space on the site for stockpiling or rubbish, or anything! So it had to be a pretty organised operation. A lot of cooperation was required.” The rooms have a sense of spaciousness that belie their compact dimensions. This is thanks to TAKT’s subtle manipulation of light and views. A butterfly roof invites the light in on the lounge/kitchen level and the winter sun onto the concrete slab. Clerestory windows around the perimeter borrow the landscape from the neighbours. “One of the joys I get is looking at the vegetation even two, three blocks away. Almost like you’re in the forest,” Jeremy says, looking out. The kitchen window has views of the Randwick ridgeline and the picturesque valley. In the second bedroom, a peephole window offers a glimpse of sky, a moment of contemplation visible only from the pillow, while a generous window seat in the main bedroom overlooks the front yard. With an understanding of how the spaces work, and the interplay of light, we can get to the finishes – in particular the copper elephant in the room. It’s a good example of how every element in this project works together to form a unified experience, as the copper itself has a relation with both the space and the light. The exterior panels articulate the 600mm rhythm of the structure, providing a beautiful regularity to the stepped boxes. Highly reflective at first, after two years they have begun to elegantly patina, with a bit of help from Jeremy. At first it was “like flame, bright gold”. Worried
PREVIOUS | LIVING/DINING SPACE OPENS TO THE REAR COURTYARD, AUGMENTING THE INTERNAL SPACE. HIGH WINDOWS INVITE THE NORTH WINTER SUN AND CONNECT THE ROOM WITH THE DISTANT LANDSCAPE. THE TALLEST OF THE ROOMS IN PROPORTION, IT IS A CALM PLACE FOR GATHERING. ABOVE | ENTRY HALL WITH CANVAS WALL PANELS AND SOFT SOUTH LIGHT. THE LIGHT ROSES ARE CUSTOM ANGLED COPPER TUBE. OPPOSITE ABOVE | THE MAIN BEDROOM, EXTENDED BY ITS BAY WINDOW, INVITING A MOMENT OF REFLECTION. OPPOSITE BELOW | MIDDLE BEDROOM AND ENTRY HALL. THIS IMAGE EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENCE IN QUALITY OF LIGHT BETWEEN THE STRONGER NORTH AND GENTLE SOUTH.
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about the neighbours getting bothersome reflection into their house, he took his weed killer contraption down to Coogee Bay, filled it with salt water and watered the side of the house. “And it changed, really overnight,” he says. Why copper? It wasn’t part of the original design, which featured a more industrial aesthetic with fibro cement cladding. But TAKT was inspired by the environment and weather. “You get those big storms rolling in over the ocean, it’s really salty,” explains Katharina. “The problem with traditional cladding is that they only get dirty in the salt. Copper gets better because the salt makes it age faster, to a degree.” Once the idea came, Jeremy was instantly drawn towards it, even though it added cost to the project. “I figured I’d get so much enjoyment out of it and it’s very hard to quantify that,” says Jeremy. All three admit it is an indulgence but they vehemently believe the result is worth it. Working with craftsmen who used a traditional standing seam – each panel is rolled and folded over so that it’s weather-tight – the subtly curved copper panels actually enclose, rather
than clad the home. ”Essentially it’s that sense of investment over time – if there’s one part of the building that’s absolutely robust and going to be looking amazing in 100 years, it’s going to be that cladding,” Brent believes. The copper also heavily influenced the interior. The original scheme had plywood cladding, but the introduction of the copper required more sensitive, textured application. Artist’s canvas was the unusual choice for the walls. The panels can be repaired or replaced while it is a rental property, and hopefully one day when Jeremy lives in there, the walls will become a canvas more literally with a commissioned work perhaps covering the length of the interior. A dark concrete slab with hand-waxed finish provides a simple yet warm base for the interior. Copper details throughout – light fixtures, door handles – are integrated effortlessly. Furniture by Craft Design Realisation custom designed to perfectly fit the small living area warm the space up and make it wholly liveable. The project has clearly been not only a physical and financial process for Jeremy, but also a philosophical one. “Sometimes you think you’ve overcapitalised,
At first it was ‘like flame, bright gold’.
JEREMY | OWNER
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OPPOSITE LEFT | COPPER RAIN CHAIN. OPPOSITE RIGHT | TASMANIAN CELERY TOP PINE FRONT DOOR HANDLES WITH LEATHER BICYCLE HANDLEBAR GRIPS. ABOVE | COPPER-CLAD WALLS IN THE BATHROOM CONNECT INSIDE AND OUT, AND OFFER ANOTHER MEASURE OF TIME AS THEY DEVELOP THEIR PATINA.
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1
0
3 45 6
1 2
PLAN
SECTION
1 2 3 4 5
BEDROOM ENTRY BATHROOM BAY WINDOW ABOVE LAUNDRY BELOW
6 7 8 9 0
KITCHEN DINING LIVING COURTYARD EXISTING SEMI
7
8
9
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DROP BOX ARCHITECT TAKT | Studio for Architecture
DESIGN TEAM Katharina Hendel, Brent Dunn
CONSTRUCTION Owner-
Builder with Mark Loader and Bricon Construction
ENGINEER Partridge Partners TAKT | STUDIO FOR ARCHITECTURE (61 2) 4268 4324 takt.net.au
FURNITURE Generally throughout, custom design beds by Takt and Lounge and Dining furniture by Takt in collaboration with Craft Design Realisation. LIGHTING Generally throughout, vintage spun copper pendant from Vampt and Globe pendants from Koskela. FINISHES Generally throughout, concrete from SBN Building Constructions, copper cladding from KFC Balmain, steel frame from
Helensburugh Metal Fabrication, hardwood windows and doors from Country Style Windows Queanbeyan, artist canvas for internal walls from Lever’s Wollongong. FIXED & FITTED Generally throughout, Australian Hardwood windows and doors. In Kitchen, microwave oven and Franke sink from Winnings, bedonia benchtops from Artedomus, and blinds from Simple Studio.
but if you take the long view...” He talks about the joy he gets from the experience of being there – the subtle Japanese influence, the knowledge that the sandstone foundations from the original cottage have become the steps leading up to the house. The project has given much joy to TAKT as well – partly because of the relationship with the client. “Jeremy had this sensibility that recognised that with a bit of investment, we could create something that could exude its own personality. Initially when we met, we were talking about how many ways you could take this little house and maintain its sense of calm and quietude. There were endless discussions about what that would mean as architecture, discussions about what makes a space feel a certain way, questioning how do people’s lives fit into a space like this?” One of the most important parts of the project was longevity. Katharina explains, “Given that it had been on the site for this long, anything we do should have a plan or intention to last for that amount of time, another 50 or 100 years.” All the while, getting better with age – like most good things in life.
OPPOSITE | FLOOR PLAN (ABOVE) AND SECTION (BELOW). ABOVE | THE HOUSE IN ITS GARDEN SETTING, OPEN YET PRIVATE.
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COPPER HOUSE in focus Architects Brent Dunn and Katharina Hendel of TAKT | Studio for Architecture discuss the importance of sketching and modelling in the design process. Working with our hands is fundamental to our design process. After briefing, site conditions and landscapes are explored and drawn in a loose yet careful way. This teases out the features of the surrounds that require a response, or reveals relationships between things, about what makes a particular place. A brief will be examined in scale and initial sketches often focus on how a place might be inhabited – where a platform might feel most natural, which aspect is favourable for pause, or across which contour circulation might pass. These sketches become the basis for a design. Once a direction becomes evident, the sketch becomes more a building atmosphere, and often people are drawn within spaces to give dimension and invite clients to engage in the imagination of themselves in their future. These sketches are still deliberately fuzzy so as to share the atmosphere we are seeking and the scale of the proposal, but not much more before it is known. We enjoy the process of sharing them and getting feedback from the owners in this way, as they often have insights about the brief that feed back into the process, so in a way we all learn more about what might be. We overlay layers and layers of different media. Sketches are scanned and measured and modelled in the computer in 3D and printed and drawn over and scanned again. And, when a problem goes around a corner, a physical model is often the most direct way of understanding what is required, and perhaps more importantly what is not required. While the computer is wonderful in so many ways, it lacks gravity, and connections can be made in arbitrary ways. Physical models add a layer of understanding that is very important, about how things come together, about support and bracing. A model connects us directly to the built outcome. While an area of pencil shading on a drawing might later become a layer of plaster on a wall, a physical model takes this connection further. The sequencing in building a model, of prefabricating elements, of framing and cladding and assembly is very important in our understanding and exploration of how the building might be put together and how it articulates the space it shapes. Models are invaluable in communicating with our clients. They give a tactile impression of intent, and offer a path to inhabit the ideas, a way to understand and discover more than drawings alone.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP BUILDING MODELS IN BALSA. FRONT OF COTTAGE IN COPPER. PERSPECTIVE SKETCH 2B ON WHITE TRACE.