Ashburton House / Phooey Architects

Architects: Phooey Architects
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Site: 840 sqm
Floor Area: 240 sqm
Year Competed: 2009
Project Team: Peter Ho, Emma Young, Lucy Williams, Leigh de Longville, James Baradine & Alan Ting
Structural Engineer: Perrett Simpson Stantin
Landscape Design: Simon Ellis
Photographer: Peter Bennetts

The form of the new house is an extruded L shape, two storeys tall. The inside of the L is lined with windows that face a linear park & its canopy of trees to the south-east of the site. “The new house was designed around one long view,” says Peter, & it is as simple as that. All the rooms take advantage of it … The house is planned around views from the inside, yet the aesthetic focus is mainly on the exterior. The metal-clad upper storey, with its jutting, angled planes, is not mere sculptural play, however.

Peter describes it as a “sawtooth facade.” Like a roof on its side, it is a self-shading wall – the angled planes block summer sun from striking & heating the surface … Inside the house, there is a joyous feeling of being in the tree canopy, with the park stretching into the distance … Multiple access points allow the clients’ children to run around & through the house. There is a real empathy with how children will perceive & enjoy the space in the way Peter speaks about the internal planning.