BRISBANE BUSHFIRE HOUSE
An in-depth understanding of the site and its characteristics along with an intimate knowledge of the area were the starting points for the design of this home.
According to principal Matt Kennedy, Arke is one of those architecture practices that concentrate on designing unique and creative residential projects in and around Brisbane. This particular design he says, “evolved to harness local breeze patterns and capitalise on northern light for advantageous winter solar gain and to address a bushfire overlay (Bal-19).”
The resulting ‘L’ shape notes Kennedy, “addresses the desirable northern orientation, harbouring a courtyard that enjoys breezes and views through the house.”
The slender, elongated living platform, positioned along the southern edge of the site, allows generous light penetration and the narrow girth facilitates cross-ventilation. Pedestrian entry takes precedence as one arrives along a crafted brick path that rises from the street level to the front entry.
What he calls “The gentle arc of the brick wall that frames and grounds the deck,” is deliberate in order to reflect the contours of the land and provides a welcoming arrival. “Through the use of large windows and doors, moving about the home becomes a joyous engagement with landscape,” says Kenendy.
The earthy tonality of the brickwork was carefully selected to reflect the colours of the land, while sustainably and locally-sourced blackbutt timber is used in key areas where it provides textural warmth.
The clients, a retired couple with adult children, provided a brief centred around the creation; a comfortable and compact home that
takes advantage of the bush views and inherent breezes of the elevated block of land, which is a carved off 500m2 section uphill from the couple’s original property.
The client’s requirements included a certain number of bedrooms and bathrooms, but the emotive brief included designing for light and transparency.
Kennedy notes that there is a beautiful quality of light that permeates the home and a transparency to spaces that celebrates the ambiguous distinction between interior and exterior, resulting in a curated calmness within the architecture. “The building truly responds to and connects with the landscape in a symbiotic co-existence.”
Because the site has what Kennedy calls “a unique microclimate that differs from the broader Brisbane climate,” an in-depth analysis and understanding of its specific characteristics was required in the first instance.
Being located on Brisbane’s city fringe while backing onto extensive bushland, the house also had to address a number of vegetation and bushfire overlays through innovative design solutions. In some places it embeds itself within the landscape it occupies, whilst in others it looks as if it is literally floating above the ground.
The roof pitch parallels the fall of the land, opening up to the higher northern elevation where high louvres vent rising hot air.
The generous eaves’ overhang was calculated to allow penetration of relatively subtle winter sun while also shielding the building from the intense south-east Queensland summer heat, says Kennedy.