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Architects: LOOK Architects
- Area: 662 m²
- Year: 2017
Text description provided by the architects. The project is located on a corner plot facing a busy road junction within a mature, nondescript neighborhood and consists of two equal and identical houses set within a relatively compact site with a shared driveway and green space. The houses were designed to serve as two family homes for a growing multigenerational family.
The simple and restrained design of the houses provides a backdrop for a quiet family life and reflects a desire for comfort, serenity and peace of mind. The private living spaces are articulated as two parallel metal clad volumes that cantilever over a timber lined box containing the communal living spaces below. The compact form and clarity of the composition responds to the setting of the building and provides a dignified corner expression that marks the corner of the busy road.
The spaces within the houses are organized in a rational and considered manner, with well- proportioned and comfortable living spaces doubly oriented to maximize natural lighting and ventilation through the house. Extensive timber screens further help to modulate the ambient environment, providing shading and additional privacy as well as screening the noise and dust from the heavily traffic along the main road.
Material selection enhances the formal expression of the house, with the aluminum cladding and off- form concrete offset by the generous use of timber which adds warmth and a domestic quality. The choice of timber cladding and off-form concrete also reflects the desire for the building to age well and will mark the passage of time – a house that can be well looked after for generations to come.
We worked closely with the client throughout the course of the project. Detailing and choice of materials were carefully developed to imbue the practical requirements of day-to-day living with an aesthetic sensibility. A special lightning protection system has also been used in the building, with the aluminum cladding doubling as a faraday cage for lightning protection, therefore omitting the need for unsightly lightning rods on the aluminum cladding.
