My Ideal House Takes Shape!

The frame’s up on H&G and Mirvac’s My Ideal House, a great moment in time for the project, writes

The frame going up is a significant milestone in any build; suddenly, a house begins to take shape. “We’ve had a team of carpenters out on site at Crest by Mirvac and the timberand-steel frame of My Ideal House is now complete,” says Roderick Petre, NSW operations manager for Mirvac. “Once the frame is up, you get a sense of the scale of the house, but really, this is just the beginning.”

As the outline of the home reveals itself on the site in Sydney’s south-west, so too does the modular flexibility of architect Madeleine Blanchfield’s winning design. “In order for it to have lofty rooms and lots of glass, it’s vital to ensure there are adequate eaves on the northern side, and vertical shading on the east and west sides,” she explains. The cleverness of her design lies in the way it can be adapted to any block of land to achieve perfect orientation.

At the time of going to press, roof trusses were being installed and the construction team was busy putting in windows (see Spotlight, opposite) in the double-storey module, which will accommodate the garage, bedrooms, bathrooms and multi-purpose room.

With the frame up, the next step is to affix Hebel panels to the exterior. These lightweight pieces in aerated concrete offer great thermal performance, have a streamlined, modern appearance and will keep labour costs in check. “They are easy to transport and handle, as well as being quick to install,” says Petre.

H&G