ioppolo
2024
This project questions where the boundaries lie within the field of small residential models close to the city. The architectural proposition considers the Australian housing crisis and seeks to demonstrate a site-responsive, socially integrated alternative as a sustainable way to accommodate a sector of our population in detached dwellings. Older suburban houses are generally located on generous lots and tend to become victims of demolition and dense infill (which is not necessarily a problem in its ambition) or continue to occupy land that could house more significant numbers of people.
This proposal seeks to privilege ecological and cultural repair by stacking the program vertically and minimising the building’s footprint. This thinking has its origins in modernism, but the rationale and execution of it have been extended to include local neighbourhood accounts, ensuring we are not only maximising garden area and recharging the aquifer but also weaving social narratives and truth-telling in a non-civic, domestic setting.
The design is a series of independent rooms, interconnected vertically by a spiral staircase and triangulated void. Moving upward, the solid base gives way to a grey wooden interior with a soft, warm fogginess, a direct response to the needs of the client. The silhouettes of special trees, scattered chimneys and the city skyline, helped define the external qualities of the vertical dwelling. Its proportions, monolithic appearance and finish take in the dense surrounding fabric.
To the front house a long narrow ensuite is added in the side setback and an existing window converted to a door, a sculpted overhead rooflight produces a light filled room that reflects and celebrates the qualities of the heritage listed dellin
awards
2024 | AIA Commendation for Residential Architecture - Houses (new)
photographs: rob frith