Beautiful econonomy
From Sanctuary magazine issue 8.
On the back of a ridge running along NSW’s Barrenjoey peninsula, on a 750 metre Northern Beaches block, architect Andrew Coomer built his inspired riposte to the fibro “beach box”.
After more than 10 years in commercial architecture, Andrew elected to switch to residential architecture in 2003. His first project was his family home. “It was my first house and I had all these ideas of what I wanted to do, and I think I proved with it that my designs and ideas work.”
The house is an expression of Andrew’s strong and logically consistent aesthetic, as well as his environmental convictions.
The influence of Glenn Murcutt and Richard Leplastrier can be seen in the economy and lightness of touch of Andrew’s design, including the way structural materials are expressed, both internally and externally. Above all, this is an exceptionally well thought-out building.
Says Andrew, “I really don’t think there is anything I would change either in terms of materials and finish or in how the house interacts with the environment.”
In stark contrast to its many brick veneer neighbours, where bricks give a misleading impression of solidity, this house is a study in honesty. The structure is there for everyone to see.
Expressed recycled timber posts and horizontal beams bolted together with galvanised steel connection plates provide the physical structure for the building. From these beams, thin steel struts splay out both internally and externally to steel roof beams.
“The whole idea of constructability was important to me – to make the house as simple as possible. It’s not a conventional house, but once you explain to people how it goes together they understand what you are talking about.”
From the outset, Andrew specifically selected materials that were either recycled or could be easily recycled in the future. The jarrah frame was prefabricated from timber recycled from a demolished woolstore. The decking, window and door frames are also recycled jarrah, and the timber flooring is recycled ironbark. The hardwood roof and floor beams from the previous house were also reused for wall and floor framing.
The timber components were prefabricated off site, which saved a significant amount of construction time and minimised wastage. The uniform nature of the structural system meant all timber components could be pre-ordered to exact lengths, resulting in minimal wastage of material.
To maximise utilisation of the block, Andrew designed a house with two offset pavilions with skillion roofs tilted upward to the north. The northern pavilion is designed smaller to minimise shadowing of the southern pavilion.
The two-pavilion arrangement owes a debt to troppo architecture. Andrew explains, “I wanted to keep the cross sections of the house as thin as possible. A thin house allows cross ventilation and light to penetrate, and two pavilions allows you to go thin.” The troppo effect is visually reinforced by the pavilions’ reliance on Colorbond Metallic steel cladding on the northern and eastern walls.
The entrance to the house is in between the pavilions through a breezeway. Doors at either end of the breezeway and a translucent corrugated polycarbonate roof sheet bring light and breezes into the middle of the house. At the end of the breezeway, a long jetty-like deck comprising recycled jarrah visually connects the front of the site with the eucalypt woodland at the rear.
The building uses its orientation, skillion roofs, eaves, louvres and doors to deflect, catch, and block appropriate breezes, sun angles and views. The roofs capture the northeast summer breezes while deflecting and providing shelter from winter southerlies and westerlies.
This northern pavilion comprises two bedrooms and a bathroom. The southern, and much longer (25 metre) pavilion contains another bedroom and the open-plan living spaces. In both pavilions the primary environmental control system is a north-facing roof overhang over a translucent louvred wall.
To capture more light and bring the outside in, the southern pavilion living area also has large sliding glass doors opening onto the deck.
The south-facing wall of the southern pavilion is constructed from double-insulated concrete blocks finished with stuccoed render. This adds thermal mass and monumentality to an otherwise lightweight structure, blending troppo and temperate-climate design.
Below floor level, recycled dry packed sandstone walls anchor the house to the site.
The pièce de résistance of the house is its future-proofing. As well as minimising waste, the uniformity of the structural sections means that by simply removing a few bolts, structure can be added or subtracted and coupled with an infinite array of infill panels (wall, window and roof) to respond to the needs of future occupants. “This has been designed for a traditional nuclear family,” says Andrew, “but the way it’s put together means it can be changed to suit different families.”
In fact, this Palm Beach house is already home to family number two. And though we can’t image why they’d change a thing, it would be a cinch if they did.
Meanwhile, Andrew has moved his practice down the road to Avalon, where the lessons of his first house are being applied to a growing portfolio of inspired designs.
