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Brief – This project is a nice example of good design only being possible with a good client. The brief was “I want something small to share with my family and friends.” Over the weeks up until I visited the site, Hollie would send me pictures of all the trees on the site explaining what they all were, never sending me tile samples or kitchen benchtop requests. It was obvious that the site and how the building would feel were most important to her.
Site and Project Info – The site was the beginning of a gully where all of the street water was discharged. With one obvious flat area close to the boundary, and all covered in amazingly tall trees. The thought was to put the building up with the trees and out of the water. Inspired by the trees the four columns represent tree trunks, and the slats catch light more randomly than a flat panel, more like the leaves on the trees. They will also help the building to breathe and stay cool keeping the aggressive summer sun of the steel roof sheets and steel wall lining underneath. It’s not a big building, just enough, one bedroom one bathroom, kitchen and living room.
Having the building off the ground also allows for car access underneath to access the garage that took advantage of that flat section, which houses a laundry and hidden outdoor kitchen. The huge trees make it a BAL 40 zone so all external material had to be non-flammable.
Environmental Efficiency – The real hero is the client, I could say the interiors are all in timber because it’s a sustainably grown product, and the rest is steel because it’s the most easily recycled material. But to build something small when you have space takes courage. The real-estate agents said a four bed three bathroom would get the best price if wanting to sell. The bank would struggle to value a one-bedroom house in the country if you needed a loan for this build, there are hardly any savings from all the consultants and all the reports needed for planning and building permits when building small. So to have the courage after doing all the hard work to not just double the material usage and add three bedrooms is hard, I think building less and being less greedy is maybe as or more important than even material choices, and when the system suits the opposite it is very impressive to have the courage to see it through.
Points of Interest – A steel building in the Australian sun gets very hot in summer (and timber couldn’t be used in a BAL 40 bush fire area) to get away without having an air conditioner all walls and the roof are covered in steel slats that shade the building, the space between the slats and the building allows air to move through aiding in the cooling.
Traditional Custodians of the land on which the project is built: The Taungurung people and Gunaikurnai People
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