P R O J E C T / C O C AVA N
GROUND FLOOR
ARCHITECT’S VIEW Architect Thomas O’Brien who likes “awkward absurd things” explains why Sean and Alisha’s house was designed to be “deliberately unharmonious” and “open to multiple interpretations”. Sean and Alisha’s house is embedded within the acreage of their farm; the driveway is almost 1km long and they are in more ways than one nestled within. It is no doubt a firm commitment to the farm and to their way of life. “They wanted to be secluded within the rolling hills, with a view over the land. Our discussions were about the translation of farmyards and other things we both liked from our rural backgrounds,” says Thomas. Here he first explains the concept then gives us a walkthrough of the house:
(A)symmetrical
The house takes references from the Casino at Marino which is a derivation of Palladio’s Villa Rotunda in Italy. Both command the landscape and are implicitly inviting. As square Greek cross plans, they offer four equivalent elevations to the surrounding open landscape. Sean and Alisha’s house is also square in plan, the footprint being approximately 12m x 12m, yet departs from the rigorous order and symmetry of its neo-classical precedents. The house deploys ‘agricultural’ materials and unapologetically exhibits a deliberate awkwardness of form, which seeks to thwart aesthetic convention insofar as the predictive forces of good taste, beauty, style etc., continually return us to the same forms and structures. The work exhibits a robust and deliberate constructional legibility. Even though the plan is square each elevation looks different. This is due to the pyramidal roof and the eccentric location of the chimney. A Douglas Fir timber box gutter is propped along the length of the roof by vertical fins at regular centres. At the north-east corner these timbers form a portico. To the south elevation, the eaves is extended out by 1.1m from the wall, to shade the south elevation and shelter the main patio.
FIRST FLOOR House size 2,200 sqft Plot size 0.4 acre
Walk-through
Major visual axes through the building are maintained but here and there the walls are pulled or pushed off axis to form the necessary rooms or to create a recess or alcove for a door or bench. The ground floor rooms are relatively open to each other, arranged around a central double height hall. A 450mm step in section across the main east west axis separates the upper from lower quarters. Large oak doors close off the rooms if desired. The kitchen space is opened up to the south view by a long panoramic opening spanned by a 9.5 x 1.5m concrete beam. Precast concrete floor panels bearing on the walls or cast beams carry the upper floors. The walls are plastered in an off-white coloured sand cement floated finish and are left unpainted. Oak joinery and flooring bring some warmth to the masonry. Robust concrete benches and walls are set out around the house to enclose the stepped or ramped areas of the paths. The chimney is a narrow horizontal slot alluding to a pillbox bunker overlooking the terrain. It is the ‘strong centre’ of the house. The landscaping and construction of outbuildings will continue in the coming years as budget allows.
96 / SELFBUILD / SPRING 2019
SIDE ELEVATION