krakani-lumi - 'resting place' - is a standing camp within the wukalina/Mt William National Park for a cultural walk that is guided and operated by the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania. The project has been designed over a number of years in close consultation with the Land Council, and the broader Tasmanian Aboriginal community.
The project is strongly informed by the siting, materials and traditional half-domed forms of ancient Tasmanian Aboriginal shelter. These traditional interiors are held by a robustly detailed charred timber clad exterior. When not in use, the exterior conceals and protects the experience of the rich timber interior and becomes a shadow against the coastal banksia that surrounds the site.
Completed 2017
PROJECT CREDITS:
Builder: AJR Construct.
Engineer: Aldanmark Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd.
Photographers: Adam Gibson & Jordan Davis.
This house for a young family is located near surf beaches south of Hobart. It is situated on the edge of Pipeclay Lagoon, behind a stretch of exposed coastline. The property has an existing cottage and a number of large Tasmanian Blue Gums.
Using the trees as ‘anchors’ for the plan, the new house is sited across a central zone of the site.
The northern walls are clad in Tasmanian hardwood, which are ‘carved’ to create deep window reveals providing shade, seating and storage. A skin of blockwork affords protection from the prevailing inclement weather.
The roofline lifts to bring additional daylight into the plan. This results in an undulating profile that poetically references the lagoon and rolling landscape beyond.
Completed 2014
PROJECT CREDITS:
Builder: Southcoast Builders Pty Ltd.
Engineer: Aldanmark Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd.
Photographer: Jonathan Wherrett
AWARDS:
2015 AIA Esmond Dorney Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
2015 Intergrain Timber Vision Awards — Residential Interior
2015 Intergrain Timber Vision Awards —Residential Exterior; commendation
2015 Houses Awards — New House Over 200 Square Meters; finalist
2015 Think Brick Awards — Kevin Borland Masonry Award; commendation
The approach to the design of this house centered around its small scale.
Situated on a dramatic site, overlooking the southern Tasmanian township Franklin and the Huon River, the project takes in a 270 degree prospect across southern Tasmania, while affording privacy from an existing house – which serves as the main residence on the property.
The plan geometry hinges from the contour, creating a new living platform – the eastern edge of which aligns with the axis of Grey Mountain. The northern edge of the house orients back toward the midday sun and terrain, creating a private outdoor terrace to the north.
Rooms are huddled about a centripetal plan, reducing circulation space, while maximizing outlook.
This strategy offers a sense of an expansive interior in a tight plan, which is further emphasized by the contrast between the dark interior palette of the house, which highlights the play of sunlight upon the landscape.
Completed 2016
PROJECT CREDITS:
Builder: Southcoast Builders Pty Ltd.
Engineer: Aldanmark Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd.
Photographer: Adam Gibson
AWARDS:
2017 AIA Esmond Dorney Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New).
In creating a new living space, and updated interior to a 1950s house in Sandy Bay – this project seeks to work within the strategies set by the architect and original owner – Edith Emery.
The original house possesses a strong architectural character, and the relationships to materials, gardens and the wider region of the city are all important factors in the new work.
The first move carries the existing stepping brick foundation further up into the rear garden, to create a new indoor and outdoor living platform. Upon this, a white timber framed addition is made – referencing the original strategy of white painted openings elsewhere. The addition is kept low, to preserve the original roof line, and reduce the mass of the extension into the garden.
Internally, new joinery elements are made of stained Tasmanian Oak and Blackwood, and detailed to acknowledge the texture of the original house.
Completed 2016
PROJECT CREDITS:
Builder: Dean Scurrah Builders Pty Ltd.
Engineer: JSA Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd.
Photographer: Adam Gibson
AWARDS: 2017 AIA Edith Emery Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions).
The additions to this existing double brick home in Lower Sandy Bay sought to re-establish links to the garden and Derwent River which had been lost for forty years. The extension cups the original house and progressively changes floor levels to mediate the connection with the existing garden level below.
In terms of material, the extension was conceived as a timber element, that wraps the massive brick core of the original house.
Internally, the living areas are lined with plywood, lending the space a sense of warmth against a frequently brooding river and sky.
COMPLETED 2014
PROJECT CREDITS:
Builder: 2H Pty Ltd.
Engineer: Aldanmark Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd.
Photographer: Jordan Davis
The premise of this house is based on finding a balance of sun and view on an elevated and largely sloping bushland site.
A square plan affords equal access to easterly views, and northerly sun, while also minimising circulation space.
Entry to the house is made through a deep timber threshold from the south, into a predominantly Blue Gum and white interior. The re-encounter with the aspect across Pipeclay Lagoon is emphasised at the edge of the plan by a long low timber window seat.
The house is ‘veiled’ with a timber screen that extends from the board and batten cladding above, tying the house back into the fine filigree quality of the surrounding bushland.
Completed 2014
PROJECT CREDITS:
Engineer: Aldanmark Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd.
Builder: Dean Scurrah Building.
Photographer: Jonathan Wherrett
This small house, on an elevated and sloping site above Hobart, peeks from the canopy edge of a large existing gum tree.
A living-room platform extends out over a spectacular panorama of the city and surrounding landscape, and captures all day sun in winter. Additional sleeping spaces are located below.
Sheltered from inclement southerly weather by the adjacent gum, the house is clad externally with salvaged celery top pine, an extremely durable and high-quality Tasmanian timber. Internally the house is finished in a simple palette of white walls, recycled jarrah floors, and hoop-pine joinery.
COMPLETED 2007.
PROJECT CREDITS:
Builder: Century Construction Pty Ltd
Engineer: Gandy and Roberts Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd.
Photographer: Poppy Taylor
This project seeks to understand the ways in which a house can act to mediate and orchestrate an encounter with a powerful view.
Recalling earlier experiences of landscapes, and particularly sea-cliffs in southern Tasmania, we have proposed a kind of ‘landscape interior’ that holds the view between two mezzanine ‘cliffs’. This strategy results in an increased wall length internally, thereby also increasing the potential for engagement with more discrete oblique views over the Derwent River and wider cityscape.
Completed 2016
