N House建于2002年，20年来一直安静地坐落在Brisbane山坡上的场地。它不是一座英雄般建筑，但是一眼就能够被欣赏和理解。更确切地说，它是一个被精心设计过的，让人们来体验的地方，无论是在一次访问中，还是在这里居住一生。Timothy Hill将该项目描述为“一座位于边缘的花园建筑”。像所有的花园一样，它经历了一个又一个成熟的季节，尽管这座建筑已经有20年的历史，但他还认为它只是“几乎完工”。

N House was built in 2002 and has been sitting quietly on a Brisbane hillside site for 20 years. It is not a heroic building, but it can be appreciated and understood at a glance. Rather, it is a place that has been carefully designed for people to experience, whether in a single visit or a lifetime of residence. Timothy Hill described the project as "a garden building sitting on the edge". Like all gardens, it has come of age from season to season, and although the building is 20 years old, he still thinks it is only "almost finished."

这些住宅共同组成了一系列“甲壳”，与其说是对建筑的淡化，不如说是对其定义的扩展，以及对其目的和一丝不苟的实践的细化。术语“甲壳”，是“一种坚硬的外壳，一种保护性或防御性的覆盖物”，表明建筑本身不是一个物体，而是一个容器。如果一个人想要忍受一个世纪或更长时间，不仅需要保持身体上的耐受力，还需要保持功能上的适应性、情感上、智力上和想象力上的吸引力。

Together, the houses form a series of "carapaces," not so much a dilution of architecture as an expansion of its definition and a refinement of its purpose and meticulous practice. The term "carapace," which is "a hard shell, a protective or defensive covering," suggests that the building itself is not an object, but a container. If one is to endure for a century or more, one needs to remain not only physically resilient, but also functionally adaptable, emotionally, intellectually and imaginatively attractive.

借鉴了别墅和复合住宅的许多传统，N House和甲壳系列中的其他精心布置的景观，在居住者和场地之间培养了一种密切、有意义的关系；分解建筑体量，一丝不苟地排列空间和景观，仔细地规划和塑造循环，成为花园的首要任务。

Drawing on many of the traditions of villas and compound homes, N House and other carefully placed landscapes in the Carapaces series foster a close, meaningful relationship between the occupants and the site; Decomposing the building volume, meticulously arranging the space and landscape, and carefully planning and shaping the cycle became the primary tasks of the garden.

在N House中，这既体现在建筑体量围绕的中心景观空间中，也体现在它所处的山坡的形成作用中。人们首先从下面的道路遇到房子，必须开车上山，绕过一个拐角，才能到达入口。这条迂回的路线不是通向前门，而是通向前院，在那里，木门被设置在渲染墙中。在这里，人们不会被建筑所吸引，而是将视线引向上方的一个开口，通过这个开口可以瞥见树梢和天空。站在入口处，简单的设计，草坪，修剪的树篱，狭窄的池塘，竹子和藤蔓，正在吞噬建筑的西翼，给人一种有序而不过于正式的感觉。

In N House, this is reflected both in the central landscape space surrounding the building volume and in the shaping effect of the hillside on which it sits. People first encountered the house from the road below and had to drive up the hill and around a corner to reach the entrance. This circuitous route leads not to the front door, but to the front yard, where wooden doors are set in the render wall. Here, one is not drawn to the building, but to an opening above, through which one can catch a glimpse of the treetops and sky. Standing at the entrance, the simple design, lawn, trimmed hedges, narrow pond, bamboo and vines, is devoring the building's west wing, giving it a sense of order without being overly formal.

Architect:PartnersHill

Photos:DavidChatfield

Words:RoseOnans

Copy:Thelocalproject