Architecture
Cream of the Crop: The 2014 National Architecture Awards
The stories behind the spectacular homes short-listed for Australia's most prestigious design competition
The 2014 National Architecture Awards is at the short-list stage, with 821 entries received across 13 categories. We asked the short-listed architects in the two residential categories to take us behind the scenes of their projects – the design motivations, challenges along the way and how they made their projects work. The winners will be announced on 6 November in Darwin, but why don’t you be an early judge. Who do you think should win?
Lune de Sang – Stone House by CHROFI
This Byron Bay Hinterland property was once a dairy farm but its owners have a long-term vision to turn it into a sustainable forest to be harvested over the next 300 years.
According to architects John Choi and Jerome Cateaux, their brief was to renovate the existing house within a limited budget with the goal of creating a holiday house for their clients’ friends, children and grandchildren. Wherever possible, the architects tried to salvage elements of the original building fabric and ruled that the additions should be singular and multifunctional.
The architects added a ‘breathable’ facade frame that runs the whole length of the building and an open-plan interior that opens to beautiful district views.
Glazed sliding doors fitted with flyscreens keep out the insects, and a set of retractable slatted blinds provides both shade from the afternoon sun and security during unattended periods. Within the house, all walls and floors are neutral in tone to highlight the exposed timber rafters. The shell of the house merges the existing stonework with the new ‘frame’ creating a clear relationship with the landscape beyond.
See more of this house
This Byron Bay Hinterland property was once a dairy farm but its owners have a long-term vision to turn it into a sustainable forest to be harvested over the next 300 years.
According to architects John Choi and Jerome Cateaux, their brief was to renovate the existing house within a limited budget with the goal of creating a holiday house for their clients’ friends, children and grandchildren. Wherever possible, the architects tried to salvage elements of the original building fabric and ruled that the additions should be singular and multifunctional.
The architects added a ‘breathable’ facade frame that runs the whole length of the building and an open-plan interior that opens to beautiful district views.
Glazed sliding doors fitted with flyscreens keep out the insects, and a set of retractable slatted blinds provides both shade from the afternoon sun and security during unattended periods. Within the house, all walls and floors are neutral in tone to highlight the exposed timber rafters. The shell of the house merges the existing stonework with the new ‘frame’ creating a clear relationship with the landscape beyond.
See more of this house
South Yarra Warehouse by NMBW Architecture Studio
This warehouse apartment was built within an existing 7.5-metre-high box the architects “pulled apart” and put back together again to enhance natural light, connection to the sky and liveability. The project is said to celebrate the history of the building through considered and refined detailing.
This warehouse apartment was built within an existing 7.5-metre-high box the architects “pulled apart” and put back together again to enhance natural light, connection to the sky and liveability. The project is said to celebrate the history of the building through considered and refined detailing.
Tamarama Semidetached by David Langston-Jones
This 1919 Federation-style semi backs onto an eight-storey 1953 apartment building designed by infamous architect Harry Seidler.
The existing house, in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Tamarama, had three bedrooms along a corridor against the party wall, leading to a living area lit only from side windows. According to the architects, the renovation needed to overcome two problems: noise from the adjacent 50-space car park, and privacy – the external access walkways of the apartment block overlooked the house.
The redesign involved relocating the service zone next to the third bedroom, allowing the living room beyond to open directly onto the backyard. The rear (east) elevation was reconfigured with a projecting corrugated-iron-clad bay containing bookshelves, a fireplace and a media centre to serve as a focus to the living area.
Says the architect: “A long slot window located within the bay, between fireplace and television frames the view of the garden beyond for someone seated inside. This window both blocks out views of the apartment building from inside and also prevents sight lines from the apartment building into the living area.”
Step inside this house
This 1919 Federation-style semi backs onto an eight-storey 1953 apartment building designed by infamous architect Harry Seidler.
The existing house, in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Tamarama, had three bedrooms along a corridor against the party wall, leading to a living area lit only from side windows. According to the architects, the renovation needed to overcome two problems: noise from the adjacent 50-space car park, and privacy – the external access walkways of the apartment block overlooked the house.
The redesign involved relocating the service zone next to the third bedroom, allowing the living room beyond to open directly onto the backyard. The rear (east) elevation was reconfigured with a projecting corrugated-iron-clad bay containing bookshelves, a fireplace and a media centre to serve as a focus to the living area.
Says the architect: “A long slot window located within the bay, between fireplace and television frames the view of the garden beyond for someone seated inside. This window both blocks out views of the apartment building from inside and also prevents sight lines from the apartment building into the living area.”
Step inside this house
West End Tower by Owen and Vokes and Peters
This re-imagined Queenslander makes better use of the characteristic verandah that usually takes up a lot of floor space but is little used. The family who lives in this West End Tower renovation now uses the verandah to cook, dine and bathe, while enjoying the outlook over the garden and street.
Explore the interior
This re-imagined Queenslander makes better use of the characteristic verandah that usually takes up a lot of floor space but is little used. The family who lives in this West End Tower renovation now uses the verandah to cook, dine and bathe, while enjoying the outlook over the garden and street.
Explore the interior
Strohmayr House by Troppo Architects
This significant renovation takes its cues from a much-loved, pre-cyclone elevated home. Says a Troppo Architects spokesperson: “Passively cooled throughout, this home embraces the spirit of the Top End for a family committed to preserving the old Darwin lifestyle with a sophisticated, contemporary re-imagining.”
The original home’s connection to the landscape and cooling sea breezes are repeated throughout the additions. The built forms border a courtyard pool next to the main living verandah and outdoor kitchen.
The expansive outdoor spaces connect to the rest of the house via canopy-high walkways that lead to the bedrooms and other secluded rooms of the house. “The working garden provides a self-sufficient vegie patch, chooks and a new workshop – the envy of the neighbourhood,” the spokesperson adds. “The landscape design cleverly ties all the parts together, offering areas for play, toil and rest.”
See more of this house
This significant renovation takes its cues from a much-loved, pre-cyclone elevated home. Says a Troppo Architects spokesperson: “Passively cooled throughout, this home embraces the spirit of the Top End for a family committed to preserving the old Darwin lifestyle with a sophisticated, contemporary re-imagining.”
The original home’s connection to the landscape and cooling sea breezes are repeated throughout the additions. The built forms border a courtyard pool next to the main living verandah and outdoor kitchen.
The expansive outdoor spaces connect to the rest of the house via canopy-high walkways that lead to the bedrooms and other secluded rooms of the house. “The working garden provides a self-sufficient vegie patch, chooks and a new workshop – the envy of the neighbourhood,” the spokesperson adds. “The landscape design cleverly ties all the parts together, offering areas for play, toil and rest.”
See more of this house
Highgate Hill House by Twofold Studio and Cox Rayner Architects
“We designed the house to be compact, being on a tight inner city lot, making use of volume, views and light so that it feels quite spacious and open,” says Melissa Blight, Twofold Studio director and interior designer, who worked with Cox Rayner architect Jayson Blight on this Brisbane project. “The new addition is respectful of the original worker’s cottage yet brings in contemporary materials, shapes and volumes.
An original brick fireplace inspired the use of brick in the exterior and interior spaces, which is crafted to form sculptural steps, plinths and enclosures. Husband-and-wife team Elvis & Rose laid the beautiful brickwork. Complementing the structure, large sliding glass doors were designed to seamlessly open to connect or enclose spaces, providing cross ventilation and views through to the home’s ‘secret’ garden.
See more of this house
“We designed the house to be compact, being on a tight inner city lot, making use of volume, views and light so that it feels quite spacious and open,” says Melissa Blight, Twofold Studio director and interior designer, who worked with Cox Rayner architect Jayson Blight on this Brisbane project. “The new addition is respectful of the original worker’s cottage yet brings in contemporary materials, shapes and volumes.
An original brick fireplace inspired the use of brick in the exterior and interior spaces, which is crafted to form sculptural steps, plinths and enclosures. Husband-and-wife team Elvis & Rose laid the beautiful brickwork. Complementing the structure, large sliding glass doors were designed to seamlessly open to connect or enclose spaces, providing cross ventilation and views through to the home’s ‘secret’ garden.
See more of this house
Southern Outlet House by Philip M Dingemanse
Two factors constrained this architect-built and designed Tasmanian home: a steep slope and a tight budget. The house also faced a busy arterial road. To overcome these challenges and build a welcoming family home suitable for the climate, architect Philip M Dingemanse says he adopted a strategy from early 20th-century naval camouflage: “The dazzle technique is employed, not in order to conceal the mass of building, but rather to manipulate its public face, adjust its scale and suggest another dimension to the otherwise flat facade.”
The building – the architect’s own house – acknowledges people passing by in vehicles at speed, as well as those living on the hill opposite who look back to the static object. “It becomes just another highway directional sign, vehicle, billboard or piece of public art,” explains Dingemanse.
Step inside this house
Two factors constrained this architect-built and designed Tasmanian home: a steep slope and a tight budget. The house also faced a busy arterial road. To overcome these challenges and build a welcoming family home suitable for the climate, architect Philip M Dingemanse says he adopted a strategy from early 20th-century naval camouflage: “The dazzle technique is employed, not in order to conceal the mass of building, but rather to manipulate its public face, adjust its scale and suggest another dimension to the otherwise flat facade.”
The building – the architect’s own house – acknowledges people passing by in vehicles at speed, as well as those living on the hill opposite who look back to the static object. “It becomes just another highway directional sign, vehicle, billboard or piece of public art,” explains Dingemanse.
Step inside this house
Oxlade Drive House by James Russell Architect
With the Brisbane floods of 2010 still fresh in Queenslanders’ minds, architects are designing houses with weather extremes in mind. The Oxlade Drive House is situated in a low-lying area in Brisbane, so the home has been elevated above ground level in case the Brisbane River floods again.
Architect James Russell says the house is designed as a series of two-storey pavilions that run the depth of the block, each separated by a courtyard containing landscape, gathering spaces and a pool. As well as being able to accommodate visiting friends and family, Russell says the home will also be able to cope with sun, rain and flood for the next 50 to 100 years with little maintenance, and be comfortable all year round without mechanical heating or cooling – quite a feat for the temperature extremes Brisbane faces throughout the year.
With the Brisbane floods of 2010 still fresh in Queenslanders’ minds, architects are designing houses with weather extremes in mind. The Oxlade Drive House is situated in a low-lying area in Brisbane, so the home has been elevated above ground level in case the Brisbane River floods again.
Architect James Russell says the house is designed as a series of two-storey pavilions that run the depth of the block, each separated by a courtyard containing landscape, gathering spaces and a pool. As well as being able to accommodate visiting friends and family, Russell says the home will also be able to cope with sun, rain and flood for the next 50 to 100 years with little maintenance, and be comfortable all year round without mechanical heating or cooling – quite a feat for the temperature extremes Brisbane faces throughout the year.
K House by Chenchow Little Architects
This unique Vaucluse house is located on a gently sloping site on the edge of Sydney Harbour and overlooks the city skyline and Harbour Bridge to the west. To the northern edge of the site is a public pedestrian walkway, which opens the site to the sun and separates the dwelling from its neighbours.
“The client desired an extremely private house, yet required it to open on three sides to the spectacular view, the sunny northern aspect and the rear garden,” Chenchow Little Architects founding partner Stephanie Little tells Houzz. “The K House is open and connected to the outdoors but at the same time very private and screened from the surroundings.”
The house has been constructed within a protective masonry shell, the walls of which are faceted and heavy with a textured rendered surface. “They have been sculpted to provide the necessary privacy to the interior without sacrificing solar access,” Little says.
The walls are designed to fit within the local planning authority’s building envelope controls. “As the walls approach the boundary they diminish in height, creating a zigzag profile on the northern facade,” Little says. The miracle of this design is that it appears smaller than it is from the outside and bigger than it really is from the inside. The solid textured render of the external walls contrasts with the spotted gum internal lining of the house. The materials are left raw and uncoated and are designed to weather with age.
See more of this house
This unique Vaucluse house is located on a gently sloping site on the edge of Sydney Harbour and overlooks the city skyline and Harbour Bridge to the west. To the northern edge of the site is a public pedestrian walkway, which opens the site to the sun and separates the dwelling from its neighbours.
“The client desired an extremely private house, yet required it to open on three sides to the spectacular view, the sunny northern aspect and the rear garden,” Chenchow Little Architects founding partner Stephanie Little tells Houzz. “The K House is open and connected to the outdoors but at the same time very private and screened from the surroundings.”
The house has been constructed within a protective masonry shell, the walls of which are faceted and heavy with a textured rendered surface. “They have been sculpted to provide the necessary privacy to the interior without sacrificing solar access,” Little says.
The walls are designed to fit within the local planning authority’s building envelope controls. “As the walls approach the boundary they diminish in height, creating a zigzag profile on the northern facade,” Little says. The miracle of this design is that it appears smaller than it is from the outside and bigger than it really is from the inside. The solid textured render of the external walls contrasts with the spotted gum internal lining of the house. The materials are left raw and uncoated and are designed to weather with age.
See more of this house
Hover House by Bower Architecture
Located on a battleaxe block on Victoria’s Mt Martha, the Bower Architecture team was asked to design a tranquil, sustainable and private home filled with natural light, warmth and texture. Privacy was an issue, however, and there were no views to factor into the design, so the architects suggested creating a captivating internal focus in the form of a central courtyard.
A sectional gable through the east-west axis made the most of natural light and enhanced privacy. The house also efficiently collects rainwater, incorporates sustainable passive systems and emphasises views to distant gum tree canopies.
Sliding doors and timber screens mean each bedroom wing can be open or closed independently from the main living space.
Step inside this house
Located on a battleaxe block on Victoria’s Mt Martha, the Bower Architecture team was asked to design a tranquil, sustainable and private home filled with natural light, warmth and texture. Privacy was an issue, however, and there were no views to factor into the design, so the architects suggested creating a captivating internal focus in the form of a central courtyard.
A sectional gable through the east-west axis made the most of natural light and enhanced privacy. The house also efficiently collects rainwater, incorporates sustainable passive systems and emphasises views to distant gum tree canopies.
Sliding doors and timber screens mean each bedroom wing can be open or closed independently from the main living space.
Step inside this house
House at Hanging Rock by Kerstin Thompson Architects
This house, nestled among the rolling hills of the Macedon Ranges, organises interior and exterior space and the extended site through a series of parallel bands. According to the experts at Kerstin Thompson Architects, these manifest in the house and immediate landscape as pre-cast concrete walls in an east-west direction and, between and defined by these, three terraces, staggered in plan and stepped down the site along a gentle diagonal.
The house is designed to frame the gorgeous views, most dramatically from the dining area (pictured). The roof is a single sweeping gesture – a rhomboid that creates an elegant, low form along the hill. The black ply ceiling intensifies the colours of the adjacent bush and creates an intimate and sheltering interior. In time the surrounding land will be restored to its pre-farming days with intensive planting of indigenous vegetation.
See more of this house
This house, nestled among the rolling hills of the Macedon Ranges, organises interior and exterior space and the extended site through a series of parallel bands. According to the experts at Kerstin Thompson Architects, these manifest in the house and immediate landscape as pre-cast concrete walls in an east-west direction and, between and defined by these, three terraces, staggered in plan and stepped down the site along a gentle diagonal.
The house is designed to frame the gorgeous views, most dramatically from the dining area (pictured). The roof is a single sweeping gesture – a rhomboid that creates an elegant, low form along the hill. The black ply ceiling intensifies the colours of the adjacent bush and creates an intimate and sheltering interior. In time the surrounding land will be restored to its pre-farming days with intensive planting of indigenous vegetation.
See more of this house
Griffith House by Popov Bass Architects
This family home is a radical departure from the norm in rural NSW – the materials used are more likely to be seen in the Mediterranean or Middle East than Griffith.
Built on a completely flat site, the stretched courtyard architecture sits like a sculpture in a big-sky landscape. A robust and pragmatic pre-cast concrete and masonry structure creates a series of rooms, galleries and courtyards. “The thermal mass of these materials and the use of internal courtyards is the environmental response to the widely fluctuating temperatures of this semi-arid climate,” says director and architect Brian Bass.
The visible use of repetitive concrete construction contrasts with the extensive use of fine timber detailing in the openings, recesses, doors and wall panels. Natural lighting is introduced though courtyards and tall skylights positioned to separate rooms. “These details are integral to the rhythm established by the proportion of the gallery bays,” says Bass.
See more of this house
HAVE YOUR SAY
Which of these designs do you think should take out the national prize? Share your opinions in the comments section.
MORE
From the Pros: 8 Design Habits of a Successful Architect
From the Ground Up: Designing for Your Location
14 Incredible Homes You Won’t Believe Exist
This family home is a radical departure from the norm in rural NSW – the materials used are more likely to be seen in the Mediterranean or Middle East than Griffith.
Built on a completely flat site, the stretched courtyard architecture sits like a sculpture in a big-sky landscape. A robust and pragmatic pre-cast concrete and masonry structure creates a series of rooms, galleries and courtyards. “The thermal mass of these materials and the use of internal courtyards is the environmental response to the widely fluctuating temperatures of this semi-arid climate,” says director and architect Brian Bass.
The visible use of repetitive concrete construction contrasts with the extensive use of fine timber detailing in the openings, recesses, doors and wall panels. Natural lighting is introduced though courtyards and tall skylights positioned to separate rooms. “These details are integral to the rhythm established by the proportion of the gallery bays,” says Bass.
See more of this house
HAVE YOUR SAY
Which of these designs do you think should take out the national prize? Share your opinions in the comments section.
MORE
From the Pros: 8 Design Habits of a Successful Architect
From the Ground Up: Designing for Your Location
14 Incredible Homes You Won’t Believe Exist
Bellevue Terrace Alterations and Additions by Philip Stejskal Architecture
The original 1890s cottage on this Fremantle, WA, site did nothing to engage with its view over a tapestry of 100-year-old backyards and laneways, mature eucalypts and overgrown fences. Connecting with the verdant surroundings was a driving motivator of the project. “Our task was to reconfigure the west-facing end of the cottage to remove physical barriers and replace them with a ‘lens’ that could be opened up or closed down depending on conditions or desire,” says architect Philip Stejskal.
This idea of the ‘lens’ led to the series of shutters, sliding panels and fixed glass that appear on the perimeter of the addition – a delightfully unexpected result, even for the architect! “It almost grew from the constraints of the site in the manner of a mathematical equation,” Stejskal tells Houzz.
The five-metre wide block had limited access to northern light, was on a sloping site and was wedged closely in between its neighbours. “Our job was to engage with this richly green setting, whilst also tempering westerly weather and neighbourly gazes,” Stejskal explains. “This led to a series of stepped platforms, wrapped in a skin of shutters and sliding screens, of varying opacities and orientation. The project allows the owners to tailor their environment in appreciation of shifts in climate, function or their mood.”
Learn more about this house