October 2012 - Trademax Publications

feature
The architects investigated the organizational typologies
employed in the neighbouring properties, but found the
general response to be combative in their attempts to
address a cooler climate. The most common response,
reminiscent of an onion (whereby a sequence of layers are
used to dress and group a collection of rooms), translates
into built works that appear reclusive, and which are
ultimately divorced from their respective contexts.
The organizational methodology employed is therefore
contextually relevant - not in a literal sense - but
reinterpreted and restructured to produce an architectural
work of exceptional clarity and depth.
Studying the floor plan, a clear distinction between
private and public realms are made: the private rooms are
enclosed while the public corridor and living quarters have
a much more direct connection to the surrounding
landscape, and extend out onto a timber deck.
The clients' request for a place of refuge, where isolation
from chaos and noise of urban life takes precedence, gave
the architects an ideal opportunity to explore an alternate
approach to the definition of place. In response to this
design objective an exercise in unwrapping was employed:
spaces are peeled open and given the opportunity to
embrace their surrounds.
Formally the design manifests as a single linear gesture,
oriented on a North-South axis along its longer elevation,
with a single corridor that serves as the main connecting
artery between the public/private and inside/outside
realms.
Unifying and covering the ensemble is an expressive
single-pitched roof- a wholly timber construction perched
on two steel delicate beams - with its slender rafter beams
exposed. It lends a powerful atmosphere to the interior
spaces and its presence felt throughout the house.
Southern light spills across its surface and playfully
entices the viewer's eyes to glide across it.
The pitched roof lends a
powerful atmosphere to the
interior spaces and its presence
felt throughout the house.
In section, the roof provides an interesting juxtaposition
to a built form otherwise occupied in the horizontal plane.
The roof seems to follow this peeling notion as it attempts
to explode and merge with the forest.
// OCTOBER 2012 35