Innehållsförteckning för Habitus #46 - Life Outdoors från Habitus

There exists an ever-growing body of literature that promotes the benefits of human interaction with nature. In Japan, forest bathing is a time-honoured exercise that is believed to ward off illnesses. In Singapore, the practice of biophilia in design (a term popularised by Edward O. Wilson in 1984) and of building therapeutic gardens and community farms has become widespread. But the need to get away from the city to green spaces that promote wellbeing is an ancient impulse. They range from fanciful imperial retreats and country cottages to the humbler, present-day holiday campsites for families. Even so, with climate change and frantic urban living the reality for most people today, there is a rise of a different kind of getaway that is not themed after luxurious resorts for the well-heeled…

Wellington’s cleaved landscape is based on a visible fault line cutting north-east through the North Island before pitching into the Pacific Ocean. While this geography limits the size of the city, it certainly hasn’t constrained its architects or builders. They have responded with small, tall and interesting houses perched on ridges and clinging to impossibly steep hillsides. To be a Wellington architect, therefore, is to be an expert in foundation design and resigned to the fact that large parts of a budget can get buried underground. This small Kilbirnie site is no exception. As well as having a steep contour and awkward triangular shape, it has also been cut and retained for a bend in a busy arterial road. Not a site for the fainthearted, it was tellingly purchased off…

In September, the Habitus team and our closest friends were invited to Gaggenau’s stunning showroom in Southbank, Melbourne, to celebrate the launch of the second Habitus House of the Year special edition. Ahead of the official release of the magazine and website – habitusliving.com/houseoftheyear – guests were treated to an exclusive preview of the 20 outstanding feats of recently completed residential architecture that comprise the 2019 selection. It was special evening shared between friends and colleagues in the industry: there were great supporters of the initiative such as Gaggenau, architects who featured in this special issue (amongst those whose work featured in previous editions), editors, writers, and photographers who contributed to the issue, and of course, the Habitus team. A new, annual endeavour, can you believe we are already working…

MICHAEL NICHOLSON PARADISE FOUND #136 After obtaining a degree in architecture from The University of Sydney, Michael has spent over 30 years professionally photographing architecture and interiors across Australia and Asia – much of which has appeared in the pages of Habitus. From having worked with Max Dupain to fully embracing the transition from film to digital, he most enjoys the challenge of faithfully reproducing the relationship between indoor and outdoor, and creating a sense of “being there” which articulates the architect’s vision. During the course of his career Michael has enjoyed being a photographer-of-choice for some of Australia’s leading architects and, of course, Habitus. LEANNE AMODEO PARADISE FOUND #136 Leanne Amodeo is a senior editor, writer and media strategist specialising in architecture, design and visual art, and a former…

My friendship with Milo Naval began in 2011 when I interviewed him for Habitus #12, one of many articles for this title. As a Filipino immigrant to Australia, uncovering stories of designers from the Philippines became a way for me to reconnect with my roots. Milo studied architecture and practised interior design, he spent most of his 25-year career as one of the Philippines’ most influential furniture designer-makers. To design and build Siama Hotel culminates these stages, for which I was happy to be a part of as his collaborating architect. Aya: Milo, it has been six years since we collaborated on the design of Siama Hotel. I remember an invitation to visit you in Sorsogon to talk about building a hotel on a coconut farm. Out of curiosity, I…

“We decided to wrap the place in landscape,” says architect Stephen Neille. In this case, a landscape that not only includes trees and plantings of flowering shrubs and creepers (such as the bougainvillea “borrowed” from the next-door neighbour) around three sides of the curtilage, but also the ‘wider context’ of Bronte’s pre- and post-war residential architecture. Landscape architect, Sue Barnsley, has in fact added substantial amenity to the public domain, especially to the cul-de-sac street that terminates in a delightful pocket park. This in turn becomes another example of the architects’ strategy of borrowing the landscape and drawing it inside the house. The street is part of an elevated bullnose formation affording the house a garden at its tip, beyond which is an unrivalled view down Bronte Gully to the…

Each year, the annual Habitus Kitchen & Bathroom issue is an opportunity for the team not only to revel in the beauty of some of the most stunning kitchens and bathrooms across the Indo Pacific Region, but also to report on the innovation in these spaces and the changing patterns and behaviours architects and designers are responding to. In celebration of the issue, and in order to further explore the ideas and themes explored within, Poliform Sydney was our gracious host for an evening of fine food, great conversation, and a thought-provoking panel discussion between architects Andrew Benn of Benn+Penna and Jennifer McMaster of TRIAS, NSW Poliform state manager Meredith Ong, and Habitus editor Holly Cunneen. Habitus Living habitusliving.com Poliform poliformaustralia.com.au…

Located just five-minutes’ drive from the workshop, Marty and Casey live in a coastal town that conjures up the idyllic Australian dream. Byron Bay and its surrounds have changed over recent years as city dwellers have flocked to the coastal paradise for a sea change or tree change. But drive 25 minutes north to Billinudgel and the laidback utopia still exists in the hinterland and on the coast. It’s here that Martin Johnston grew up and now works and lives with his young family, designing and making furniture with great respect for history. As the son of a well-respected local joiner, Marty grew up in and around the workshop of his father, Bruce, becoming familiar with machinery, tools and timber. He had a passion for being creative and developed a…

Humans have an inherent need to seek connections with nature and other forms of life, according to the biophilia hypothesis. This connection is vital for our health and wellbeing, yet in modern life, we spend about 90 per cent of our time indoors. The importance of being outside and in close contact with nature is seeing a shift in the design of hospitality venues. Designers are blurring the lines between interior and exterior space, whether it’s a picturesque landscape or suburban location. By eliminating walls, framing views, using translucent materials and drawing on nature’s palette, these venues promote time spent outdoors, in the open air and amidst nature. One such venue is Cornerstone Stores located between Currumbin and Tugun on the Gold Coast. Developed by a local family, Cornerstone Stores…

Byron Bay is that quintessential little piece of Aussie beachside paradise. It’s a small New South Wales coastal town popular for its surf beaches, music festivals and colourful mix of bohemian nature lovers, shrewd developers, holidaying backpackers and fun-loving creatives. It’s also where Brazilian architect Thais Pupio set up her practice, Thais Pupio Design, after relocating to Australia 11 years ago. Florianópolis, where she used to live in the south region of Brazil, shares the same sub-tropical climate as Byron Bay and so the move was undoubtedly a strategic one. Thais is adept at producing highly efficient yet humble environmentally responsive residential architecture and the same design principles that drive her projects in Brazil also drive those in Australia. It’s an expertise not lost on her recent clients, a husband…