- Area: 404 m²
- Year: 2016
-
Photographs:Alicia Taylor Photography
-
Manufacturers: Reggiani, Bosch, Breezway, Caroma, Centor, Clark, Dulux, Foscarini, Liano, Lysaght
Text description provided by the architects. Liam Proberts, Managing and Creative Director of award-winning Brisbane-based architectural practice bureau^proberts, has designed his family home.
The house is situated on a wide, ridge-top block in the hilly Brisbane suburb of Bardon, falling steeply due-north to a tree reserve.
Amongst an established avenue of large gabled interwar houses, the facade from the street is familiar. Angular monochrome textures screen the house in what Proberts describes as “a strident interpretation of the more traditional gables and hip roofs of its surrounds”.
“The materials and screens are deliberately constructed to reveal shapes and framework that draw on its Queenslander context,” says Proberts.
Behind the screened façade, a triangular skylight shrouds the entryway and creates a private transitional space that plays with light and shade, and obscures inside from out.
This seamless connection with the landscape proliferates as the hallway descends to the main living level, which is designed around an internal courtyard.
“The design is grounded in – and strongly connected to – the landscape and characteristics of its sloping site,” Liam said.
The open living space creates a veranda-like thoroughfare, melding the courtyard with the landscape beyond, via glass sliding doors along the entire northern edge. Reaching out to the reserve like a promontory, the only barrier to the trees is a soft planting recessed at the floor edge.
Upstairs, the master bedroom and ensuite perch amongst the tree tops, drawing the landscape in through seamless glazing and low-level louvres. Along the eastern side, the additional bedrooms enjoy full-height ventilation and privacy, protected by the screened façade as it extends from the entry.
The lower level houses a relaxed family space that opens up to a terraced yard and pool at the natural ground level of the sloping block, continuing the fluidity and connection to landscape.
Liam’s understanding of subtropical living and passion for the Queensland architectural vernacular stems from his childhood, growing up in the tin and timber cottages of Spring Hill.
Dark and stained timber feature as expressed beams, against a backdrop of lime- washed hoop pine features extensively throughout the main living spaces (as panelling, screening, ceilings and joinery elements). The result is an intriguing, yet familiar collection of forms and materials combined in an exciting and thoughtful way.
