VISION 49 — TALL ORDER
Gary Catt spoke with Vision about his big picture
ambitions for clients wishes for privacy and vista:
Do you have a ‘house style’?
It sounds a contradiction in terms, but we pride
ourselves on NOT having a style. We interpret our clients’
needs. We’re there for our client. We’ve had 30 years or
more and we’ve seen the styles come and styles go.
There are certain classic elements about styling. But if
you get the massing right and the materiality right, and
you can reflect what the client really, really wants – that’s
the style we’re after.
VISION
GARY CATT
Does this house vary substantially from a house
you might design in another suburb?
The street’s important. You’ve got to have context.
I don’t really like “feature” architecture that stands
out like the proverbial on the street. I like the good
neighbourly approach. Here however there is quite
a mix of styles. We felt quite comfortable in doing a
very, very bold home. Our clients wanted some drama.
That’s what we went for.
This is a house of very emphatic volumes and
proportions.
That’s part of the drama. This is a family home with family
spaces for a biggish family. They’ve got lots of relatives
and lots of friends. It’s an entertaining home. It’s a house
of gathering spaces where you can come and go and
retreat from. But the volumes had to be generous to be
able to take quite large crowds.
There’s also a unique-ness about the topography.
We had lovely trees and outlooks. And we had the need
to put in the home a very substantial basement. I didn’t
want to create a basement that was entirely underground.
By lifting the home up and then dropping down the back
level we could open up the rear of the basement with full
width stairs leading up into the back garden. That bottom
level now forms a three-level building, and it doesn’t
feel subterranean.
Throwing that two-storey roof on the back and carrying
through that volume helps with the west sun. As the sun
moves around the site, there is lots of protection from
summer heat but lots of winter sunlight in outdoor areas
and into the house. There is a freedom of movement from
indoors. Throwing open those massive doors and still
not have any chance that the weather can come inside
is a fantastic result.