VISION 23 — BACK TO THE FUTURE
Those mid-Century modernists, suffered from
the availability of quite inferior materials by today’s
standards. This house is something they could only
have dreamed about.
You’re right. They reduced the thickness of everything
and introduced industrial methods and materials for
those houses. We tried here to hide how the house was
constructed. We tell our clients minimalism and simplicity
is hard to achieve because we have to hide the way it
all comes together.
Residential design is often regarded as unprofitable
and a disproportionate headache for the effort.
Is it worth it for the architect?
I always tell people our office does commercial and
residential. Commercial basically pays for the residential.
Residential is by far the most personally rewarding,
but financially, I understand why many architectural
offices refuse it.
What was the real opportunity—and test?
The opportunity was to experiment with materials –
concrete and glass. We design, with certain rules: “In this
design, one of the rules was that the external east and west
walls were to be of solid concrete. Everything in between
is lightweight. It’s lightweight materials, timber cladding or
walls of glass.” That was a rule we carried through all the
way while stepping down the site.
Any issues reaching a 6-star energy rating?
To achieve the concrete finish inside and out took a lot
of effort. We had to sandwich insulation within the 6-inch
concrete wall and of course, that obviously influenced the
choice of glass. We chose Viridian ComfortPlusTM. Being a
predominantly glass-house, it had to deliver that energy
rating and function beautifully.
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