-
Architects: Nic Brunsdon
- Area: 195 m²
- Year: 2019
-
Photographs:Ben Hoskin
-
Lead Architect: Nic Brunsdon
Text description provided by the architects. The North Perth House is an urban-in{ll project in inner-city Perth. Located on asmall block, the design responds by providing a variety of spaces, determined by asimple structural arrangement. Eyciencies of construction and economies of trade were key considerations inmanaging a tight budget and a diycult site with restricted access.
Concrete pre-cast panels are deployed to be both the {nishing material and thebuilding structure. By using this commercial construction system as the mainconceptual organising principle, the project was able to gain signi{cant budget andtime savings, while maintaining legible design integrity and innovation in housing type.
There are only two panel types in the project; one for the ground |oor running east-west parallel to the street, and one for the {rst |oor running north-south pointing tothe city. The four panels on the ground |oor support the four on the {rst |oor andinterlock like a lattice, staying secured by gravity with some lateral bracing.
On the ground |oor, these panels demarcate layers of privacy from the street frontback towards the rear of the property, each signifying a threshold leading deeperinto the private life of the house. Garage, Gallery, Vestibule, Kitchen, then Living andGarden. On the {rst |oor, the panels rotate 90 degrees, giving long views back to Perth cityon the south side and to welcome northern light into bedrooms. Moments ofoverlap allow for interesting spatial dynamics and vertical and oblique viewsthrough and out of the house.
Each panel is punctuated with one of two types of arch, a grand arch, and apedestrian arch. The grand arch is provided for the more signi{cant gestures in thehouse - prospect from the kitchen, a sun-shade to the rear, a hidden robe, and agallery window. The pedestrian arch is for clean perpendicular travel. The pedestrian arch also maintains the length and width of the site. On opening thefront door, an uninterrupted sightline is presented from the front to the rear of thelot. Similarly, on arriving on the {rst |oor, the pedestrian arch presents the full widthof the house. These are Important gestures on a constrained site of 9.5 x 23 metres.
When the arch is not required, it is {lled in with a timber inlay or insulatedtranslucent polycarbonate sheet, keeping the opening legible. The material paletteis deliberately restrained to these three treatments; raw concrete for the heavy andhard-working elements like the structural panels and the |oor, timber for theintimate moments like furniture, kitchen joinery, balustrades and bedheads, and thetranslucent sheeting to mediate the hard east and west sun and provide soft light tothe height of the interior spaces.
The simplicity of the design belies the complexity of the resulting spaces that arecreated; spaces that are compressed and dark, high and washed, raw andun{nished, and rich and intimate.
