Innehållsförteckning för Issue 127 April 2019 från Houses

This exciting reimagining of a 1920s weatherboard “porch-and-gable” house in Paddington marks the return of architect Scott Petherick, director of SP Studio, to Brisbane. With extended family residing there, it made sense that Scott would settle in Brisbane after a decade and a half spent working in Melbourne and abroad. When acquired by the Pethericks, the house had already undergone renovation, but the original layout and detailing were mostly intact. A deep, L-shaped verandah wrapped the home’s south-western corner, with living, dining, kitchen, bathroom and three bedrooms located upstairs and a workshop downstairs in the stump space, enclosed by typical subfloor battening. Prized among the existing trees on the site, in the northeastern corner of the sideways-sloping backyard, was a beautiful spreading jacaranda tree. Scott designed predominantly in section to…

Stephanie McGann Could you share with us a little about your family and background? Pam Mitchell I’m a chartered accountant and I currently work for a philanthropic trust. I have two adult children and I’ve just recently become a grandma. Arthur Apted Pam and I got married three years ago. I was, at the time, living in an old house just around the corner from Pam’s house in Clifton Hill. We engaged Fiona Dunin of FMD Architects to renovate my house to become His and Hers House, where we now live together with one of my sons, Lindsay. SM How did you discover Fiona and FMD Architects? AA I set up and ran a property investment trust for industry superannuation funds, which did work with architects. One of the architects…

South Stradbroke Island lies to the north of the Gold Coast, Queensland, forming a twenty-one-kilometre-long stretch of sand that divides the Broadwater from the Coral Sea. Largely a conservation park, South Stradbroke Island has a rich cultural and ecological history, preserved by virtue of its relative isolation in the absence of bridge and barge connections to the mainland. Stradbroke House, designed by Gabriel and Elizabeth Poole Design Company in association with Tim Bennetton Architects, is one in a scattering of island dwellings concentrated at the southern end of the island, just a short stroll from the calm shores of the Broadwater. At its simplest, Stradbroke House is a holiday home, designed to accommodate the owner, Lori, and visiting friends and family, including her four grandsons. The project reunites longstanding collaborators:…

01 Polar Space tiles The Polar Space series from Everstone is a collection of ceramic wall tiles in a wide range of colours and shapes. Colours include ‘Polar White,’ ‘Polar Grey Blue’ and ‘Polar Black’ while formats range from rectangular to herringbone, scallop and hexagon mosaic. everstone.com.au 02 Constellation accessories Designed by Studiopepe for Agape, Constellation is a range of elegant countertop mirrors, containers and bathroom accessories. Made to appear as if they were shaped by water, the pieces are made from polished Bianco Carrara or Nero Marquina marble. artedomus.com 03 HV1 basin mixer Originally designed in the 1960s by Danish architect Arne Jacobsen, Vola’s HV1 basin mixer is now available in eighteen hues, ranging from understated brushed stainless steel to vibrant yellow. The mixer is crafted from quality solid…

The brief for this extension, located on the edge of Hobart’s city centre, was to bring in more light, connect the home to the garden and thereby make the communal spaces much more liveable. The owners of the conjoined early-twentieth-century terrace did not want a significantly bigger home, instead they wanted better amenity. Preston Lane Architects has answered the two-part brief in this extension with a range of new light sources for the home, an increased perception of space through the manipulation of volume and level changes to create an easy transition between inside and out. The clients work in shift-based healthcare roles. As a result, they experience their house at all times of the day and night as they prepare for or relax after work. While many people would…

As you enter the enchanting rainforest setting that engulfs Andresen O’Gorman’s Rosebery House, the only evidence that you’re just five kilometres from Brisbane’s city centre is a small glimpse of buildings across the river to the west. This house, in Highgate Hill, is an urban sanctuary – a place to feel calm and grounded within the landscape. Rosebery House was originally built in 1997 for Greg Hooper, Lani Weedon and their two children, Hilde and Angus. It is now home to Greta Burkett, who describes her first encounter with the home as like falling in love. “When I walked onto the property, I fell in love with the gully – its beauty made me well up. And [when] we went into the library and saw a glimpse of the river,…

In 1994 British architects Alison and Peter Smithson published a series of annotated drawings titled Small Pleasures of Life in their book Changing the Art of Inhabitation. The sketchbook excerpt depicts ten vignettes illustrating how delight can be nurtured through design. The experiences outlined in the notes appear modest and uncomplicated: “to work or write at a creeper bordered window,” “to see the sunlight spread across the floor” or to simply enjoy a view to “vegetation/the trees.” However, the prior deliberation involved in enabling these commonplace experiences is revealed by the drawings, which portray a specific architectural gesture behind each instance of domestic bliss. This collection of sketches forms an uncanny portrait of life at Kia Ora, a bijou apartment in Melbourne that was recently revived by Baracco and Wright…

As designers, patrons and followers of both architecture and Houses magazine, we can be forgiven for our preoccupation with the built “house.” However, one of this year’s Sydney Festival highlights, performed at the Rosslyn Packer Theatre, challenged us to go beyond the physical and aesthetic confines of the house and remember the importance of home. The performance work Home is a captivating collaboration between the set designer, illusion consultant, cast and an activated audience that is viewed as “fair game” by the show’s creator, Geoff Sobelle. Refreshingly, the material of the largely wordless production is space rather than script, as domestic stories develop in response to the physical parameters of the set. Geoff, who confesses to feeling most “at home” in the theatre, begins the piece on an empty stage…

Some of the most considered decisions an architect makes in the course of a project are often the most discreet in the finished product. They are also an opportunity to learn and investigate new ideas.“This one was about apertures and light and it became a way of testing our experience and understanding,” says Kelvin Ho, founding director of Akin Atelier. Indeed, Akin Atelier’s meticulous attention to junctions and openings heightens the experience of Cloud House, creating the sense of uninterrupted space and the ease of effortless function. The clients, who live between Singapore and Sydney, wanted a house in Bondi where they could relax and enjoy the outdoors and sunlight, a house that would be a family home in the future. They also wanted their living space at the rear…

A grassroots revolution is happening in architecture – a move away from the “starchitect” model of showpieces and toward a more thoughtful approach that embraces people and landscape as central, not incidental. Sydney’s Panov Scott Architects is part of the movement. Directors Anita Panov and Andrew Scott live and work in a terrace house in Sydney’s Paddington, a light- and plant-filled space that they share with their two young sons and (Monday to Friday) three colleagues. In the front two rooms, communal tables are flanked by bookshelves ceiling high. The serenity of the space reflects the growing body of “transformations” by the practice, which was awarded the Emerging Architect Prize in the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2016 NSW Architecture Awards. For Anita and Andrew, home and studio are their centre…

Coledale, north of Wollongong, is a small seaside town and historic coal mining village that occupies a narrow stretch of land between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Tasman Sea. Prior to more recent development, the town’s houses were predominantly fishermen and miners’ shacks and holiday cottages – “small, single-storey, cobbled together and home built,” says Morgen Figgis, who co-founded Barnacle Studio with Mignon Steele. As the area has become more urbanized, the older houses have been renovated or rebuilt, and often doubled in height and footprint. “The expectation of what people want in their homes is now incompatible with the old building stock here,” Morgen explains. Piz House – named after its owners, Pete and Isabel – represents a conscious departure from this norm. The couple, who have two young…

01 Lang Mursten bricks Lang Mursten is a range of extra-long-format, water-struck clay bricks, imported by PGH Bricks and Pavers from Denmark. Defined by its sleek, elongated form, the rustic yet contemporary range delivers an elevated aesthetic while accentuating the raw beauty of clay. pghbricks.com.au 02 Loop teak sofa Designed by Henrik Pedersen for Gloster, the Loop sofa is characterized by broad horizontal lines and assertive angles that combine to form a bold, comfortable profile. The sofa features a teak frame with a sling seat, strap back panels and cushions that can be used outdoors. coshliving.com.au 03 Drunken Emerald capsule collection Articolo’s Drunken Emerald mouth-blown glass, first seen in the Float lighting collection, is now available in six new lighting designs. The glamourous hue is available in the Eclipse, Domi,…

Sitting among well preserved Victorian and Edwardian homes in the inner-Melbourne pocket suburb of Clifton Hill, His and Hers House by FMD Architects is a celebration of connection and coming together. The clients, Pam and Arthur, had each engaged Fiona Dunin, director of FMD Architects, in the past; to design the celebrated Cross Stitch House (2013) for Pam and an addition to Arthur’s archetypal terrace that hadn’t yet come to fruition. A shared project to mark the start of the clients’ married life, His and Hers House completes the reconfiguration of Arthur’s terrace by melding together the original plans with qualities drawn from Cross Stitch House. From the cool, dark interiors of the terrace’s refurbished entry hall and bedrooms, the addition presents as a bright and airy inversion. The striking,…

If there is a relationship between furniture design and building design, Tomek Archer would know it. He won design awards for his Campfire Table while still an architecture student. Now a fully fledged architect, Tomek has headed up his own practice, Archer Office, for the past five years. The office’s project range is wide. He describes the extremes of its design output as running from “a very high level of control” as with his furniture design, to needing to wield “diplomacy” with large commercial developments. The smaller projects inform the larger ones and vice versa. The Camperdown Warehouse project is about as close to the furniture end of the architecture spectrum as it gets. You might think that reworking an apartment interior would be the perfect project for the furniture-designer-cum-architect,…

All buildings have a story to tell: the story of the lives of the people that have interacted with them and the story of their place. Archisoul Architects was entrusted with reimagining and restoring two unassuming timber-clad cottages in Manly that occupy a unique place in the area’s history and in the story of Australia’s beach culture. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the Sly brothers, a couple of local fishermen, built the pair of semi-detached cottages, which sit close to Manly beach. From the rear of these houses they would take their boat to the nearby beaches and patrol the waters, in what some historians see as the establishment of surf lifesaving in Australia. With a story such as this that goes to the heart of Australian…

Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston headlined the Ultimate Event at Sanctuary Cove in 1988. The five-day festival heralded the grand opening of the Gold Coast canal estate, which had been ratified under its own legislative act, the Sanctuary Cove Resort Act 1985. Over time, the secure, gated community has, for better or worse, resulted in an enclave of architectural expression. Set amongst all of this, Cove House by Justin Humphrey Architect is a visual delight, poised to make a valuable contribution to its surrounds for many years to come. Director Justin Humphrey worked closely with the client to deliver the distinctive visual identity of Cove House. The client’s previous home had subscribed to the estate’s typical aesthetic and, in engaging Justin, she sought to make a defined departure from that…