Architects:JOHN ELLWAY. ARCHITECT

Area :197 m²

Year :2020

Photographs :Toby Scott

Lead Architect :John Ellway

Builder :PJL Projects

Engineering :Westera Partners

Landscape :Studio Terrain

Energy :Esco Energy Solutions

City : Brisbane QLD, Australia

Country : Australia

Beyond the client brief and pragmatic site conditions, I tend to reflect on travel as inspiration and a source of precedent studies for my work.

In early 2017, shortly before beginning this project, I traveled to Penang. The small island off the northwest coast of Malaysia. Boon & Sarah, my clients, grew up and were schooled in Penang and it is the current home of both their parents. George Town, its capital, is the is a meeting point of many ethnicities and religions that arrived on its shores gaining a reputation as Malaysia's gastronomic capital for its distinct street food. Boon & Sarah love food and would tempt me through the project with jars of treats, typical of their upbringing in Penang. Making and eating food, as well as a place for both of their parents to stay for long periods, was key to their brief.

The location of their new home in the inner-city Brisbane suburb of Paddington brought with it a number of pragmatic challenges. Like much of the city, Paddington's hilly terrain funnels large volumes of water down gullies in rainy weather. This site straddled one of these low points with a designated exclusion zone for building over. Overland flow of water, underground sewer, and stormwater all run through the center of the corner lot. There was a minimum habitable floor level to escape the flow of water and a strict neighborhood visual character code to abide by. A step beyond the normal character code of the local council it specified the roof shape, verandah position, and use of lightweight timber detailing.

The decision was made to remove the existing post-war asbestos-lined cottage so as to better utilize the length of the site and navigate the volumetric exclusion zone for stormwater and utilities. Typically, one might expect this house to step down and connect to the backyard so as to meet the ground. The minimum floor height above the overland flow zone meant that this wasn't possible. The house was split into three square pavilions along the length of the site, each sitting on stilts to create an elevated platform like many pre-war cottages in the city. This separation allowed the sun to be captured deeper into the length of the plan and the spaces below the house to be used for car parking or covered outdoor entertaining areas.

These pavilions become the most private parts of the house, bedrooms & bathrooms, sitting at the highest level on the site. A rectangular living area then steps 900mm lower, bridging between the adjacent private spaces. As the more public room of the house, it contains a taller ceiling, richer materials, and detailing. Sliding doors open the full width making it feel like an external verandah. This is where cooking, relaxing, and entertaining happening. A covered entry patio and fire pit sit lower again stepping down to the backyard below creating a visual connection from the center of the house. The journey from yard to living area and then bedrooms is broken up, so you don't feel like you have climbed a single never-ending flight of stairs.

A third pavilion sits on the far side of the overland flow zone. Its current use is a secondary dwelling or 'granny flat' for Boon & Sarah's visiting family. Close, but just far enough away! Its entry faces away from the main part of the house with its own gate and address to the street. Over time it is envisaged this space could evolve, perhaps as a studio for hobbies; rented separately; or become part of the main house with a future linking walkway that could be added connecting down the central axis of the plan.

These multiple uses show one of the bigger ideas of this house and something I consider in all my work. How does it adapt over time? What are the changes in use with new owners in the future? Taken to the extreme, the house can be split into three single-bedroom dwellings, each with a street address. The 'granny flat' is the first. The current main bedroom and linking living space as the second. And the current three-bed pavilion facing the adjacent street was reconfigured such that the laundry becomes the kitchen and two of the three bedrooms become dining and living spaces. This can occur simply by adding a wall at the stairs leading off the end of the kitchen.

Structurally each of the three square pavilions is broken down into a 3.6m structural grid with steel posts in each corner supporting the floor off the ground. Steel cross braces have been eliminated using the lay of the land and a blockwork fireplace that ties the tallest floor to the ground. This 3.6m grid is broken down further into a 900mm material grid so as to use stand-sized cladding and door components.

Four repeating wall and window opening details are used throughout the house. Sliding doors; solid walls; louver windows; and a custom solid sash window that slides over a textured glass panel below. This sash window enables each bedroom to feel like a verandah when open. The level of privacy can be controlled as you slide the panel up and down, sitting in any position counterweighted on spiral balancers. Dappled light shines into the room through a landscape that brushes against the lower textured glass surface. Garden lighting subtly lights these rooms though the glass at night.

Above the house sits three pyramid-shaped roof forms. The neighborhood character rules, which encourage this roof type to match adjacent cottages, are used as a positive constraint. At the peak of each roof is a solar-powered operable skylight which is automated. Opening and shutting to vent hot air and draw breezes through the perimeter windows. The internal ceiling is raked to match the roof above increasing the feeling of space in the bedrooms. The house is fairly modest in size. 136m2 internally, with 61m2 of adjacent covered patio + verandah spaces.

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