Perched on the crest of a hill overlooking Devonport and the River Mersey, the Spreyton House skillfully integrates passive solar design with an informal courtyard lifestyle.

An asymmetrical cluster of living, sleeping, recreation and utility pavilions are zoned in a pin-wheel plan form, extending into the landscape to create a protected open space at the core.

This arrangement creates shafts of space between each pavilion that subtly draw the eye outwards to the surroundings and helps define the four wings as being formally and spatially distinct.

The main living areas utilise extensive glazing to the North to create a bright and open extroverted space, while the retreat spaces overlook a quiet introverted courtyard. An enclosed swimming pool is positioned on the south-western flank to help shelter this space from cold winds.

Large sliding screen doors open to allow cross ventilation and direct views from the protected central courtyard towards the magnificent vista.

A series of planar roofs create a strong horizontal emphasis with large overhangs used to protect the internal spaces from summer sun. Screens, louvres and trellises provide another layer of protection and help temper the robust wall materials to provide a relaxed atmosphere of sensual texture and light.

STATUS:

Documentation 2011

Demonstrating a sustainable approach to urban consolidation, this project provides four carefully sited and designed houses on a steep waterfront property overlooking the River Derwent.

An overall ‘pin-wheel’ site planning strategy has been implemented in order to place the four houses comfortably on the site, minimize the impact on neighbors, allow direct vehicular and pedestrian movement within the development and to maximise the river views from each house.

Presenting as single-storey elements to the street, the houses provide continuity to the streetscape, complemented by planting zones at the pedestrian entrances. The four houses are terraced down the site to work with the natural topography and offer the residents direct access to a variety of external spaces.

Exterior materials including lighter metal roof elements, exposed steel framework and timber cladding to the first floor sit over more solid plinths below, reducing the bulk and scale of each house.

The orientation of the internal spaces offers broad views of the River Derwent and Eastern shore; each house a tailored exploration of space, light and amenity. The natural interior palette acts as a backdrop to this view, while accent colours in key areas inject life into the space and reflect the individual character of the owners.

Large decks as well as areas of garden and terraces extend from the main living spaces to the north and east, providing good solar access for each of the houses. Regeneration of the endemic foreshore vegetation will soften the houses when viewed from the waterfront in contrast to a more structured approach to landscaping in and around the buildings.

STATUS:

Under Construction 2011

Situated on a rugged headland on the east coast of Tasmania, the Marion Bay House is designed to support an informal outdoor lifestyle, allowing the occupants to engage with the extended coastal site and embrace the typically diverse weather conditions of this region.

The design seeks to capture the spatial and physical qualities of the dramatic setting, evoke the experience of camping and incorporate an honest use of materials that refer to traditional shack structures and local rustic farm buildings.

The route to the house site is carefully orchestrated through the open bush, reinforcing the informal meandering required to move from the top of the property towards the coast.

This fluid movement continues into the building, the timber entry wall winding its way through the house to define a series of spaces which can accommodate a varying number of users, focus on a variety of exquisite views and capture the informality of the family’s past camping experiences.

Drawing on the layered skins of tent structures, the
camping analogy is explored further by notionally draping a tough protective metal ‘fly-sheet’ roof over a more permeable inner skin of timber and glass.

The roof and corresponding ceiling plane respond directly to the planning, lifting and compressing to harvest valuable rainwater, frame views and modulate the spatial qualities of the house.

A simple deck places the users within a viewing frame to experience the elements; the external expression of the house resonating with the powerful landform setting in which it is placed.

STATUS:

Documentation 2011

In a city celebrated for its river and mountain views, lifestyle and wealth of heritage buildings, it is unusual to be involved in a project that celebrates all on such a grand scale.

The redevelopment of the 1913 Albuera Street Schoolhouse, once playground to Tasmania’s most famous export, Errol Flynn, provided a wonderful opportunity to bring these themes together. Peeling away layers of unsympathetic additions and alterations has revealed a beautiful shell.

This spectacular canvas has created an opportunity to highlight and contrast the existing fabric through an exploration of minimalist and refined architectural insertions within the original classroom volumes.

The resulting four contemporary apartments are dramatic and beautiful, the new paying reverence to the old. The created spatial experience has become an interplay of compressed and expansive volumes, light and shadow, texture and material, new and old.

STATUS:

Completion January 2004

PHOTOGRAPHY:

Richard Eastwood

The Storm Bay development in the beachside suburb of Taroona has provided an opportunity to resuscitate a neglected corner hotel and consolidate the adjacent streetscapes.

The surrounding suburb is a varied mix of turn of the century, pre & post war, 1950's – 60's though to present dwellings incorporating well established tall trees and settled gardens.

Incorporating the original Taroona Hotel, the development includes fourteen residential apartments of various size, two serviced apartments, a café and lounge bar. Three distinct apartment types are available in separate groups spread over the site, each responding to its immediate location, but incorporating similar design themes. The architecture of the whole site is generally one of restrained clean lines and functional spaces, responding to the surrounding residential areas with consideration to natural sunlight, outdoor entertaining areas and a focus to the superb outlook over the River Derwent towards Storm Bay.

The original hotel dates from circa 1946 and is an interesting example of "post war streamline moderne" architecture.

The new commercial section of the scheme creates a clear distinction between the post war structure and the new architecture. The new additions are of a comparative scale to the hotel, maintaining a consistent height to the Channel Highway streetscape.

The design of the two new residential buildings refer to the general design principles of the existing hotel, but
develop a more contemporary architectural language.

The apartments sited along Channel Highway are again of a comparative scale and set back to the existing hotel, with landscaping at the main entrance. Materials are contemporary and simple, yet expressed as natural elements.

The Jenkins Street townhouses are reduced further to a domestic scale and architecture,the shared outdoor spaces at Storm Bay have been designed to complement the architecture, provide a beautiful and low-maintenance public/private interface, promote harmonious pedestrian and vehicular movement through the site and contribute to the broader landscape of Taroona.

Private garden spaces will use a combination of low-maintenance local native species and exotic plants in beds, with grass lawn areas, built-in garden furniture, paved entertaining spaces and brush fencing.

There are three interior concepts which have been developed for the apartments. Each concept is uniquely different yet encompasses the same materials and finishes. A basic palate of earthy tones has been incorporated with warm and neutral materials to create contemporary, spacious and elegant spaces, with each palate evoking a different atmosphere. Fittings and appliances with simple, clean lines emphasise a modern and functional aesthetic.

STATUS:

Stage 1 Completion November 2008

ARCHITECTS IN ASSOCIATION:

Stuart Tanner Architects, Jacob Allom Wade

The Tower Road Nurses' Home was constructed in the mid 1950s with a powerful horizontal aesthetic, positioned on high ground on the northern edge of New Town, an inner suburb of Hobart.

By the end of the century, the building had outlived its original purpose and languished empty and neglected.

A small development group purchased the unwanted building and broke new ground for Hobart by converting it to suburban apartments.

A typical floor which once accommodated 32 nurses now comprises 5 or 6 apartments – 23 in all. The design emphasis is on liveability rather than overt luxury.

While new architectural elements such as balconies and canopies signal the new use, the raw strength and lines of the building continue to assert its original character.

STATUS:

Completion November 2005

PHOTOGRAPHY:

Richard Eastwood

Currently under construction, this house on the suburban fringe of Hobart explores the idea of the architectural promenade as a means of understanding the building and its immediate context as well as defining its place in the greater landscape.

The house is sited at the bottom of the eastern face of Porter Hill on the edge of a bush reserve. The site has commanding views over the houses below across to the eastern shore of the River Derwent and down to Bruny Island.

The design of the house has been driven to a large degree by recognition of the potential bushfire threat faced by the site's proximity to the large area of bushland to the south and west.

From the access driveway, the house steps up the hill in a series of gently curving forms that arc around the site to form a protective semi- enclosed central courtyard.

Conceptually, a linear plan has been transformed by wrapping it around a pivot point. This provides a means of offering a more diverse range of visual connections to the landscape and physical links to outside spaces.

The house is organized over two main levels, with additional minor changes in level acting as subtle zoning devices within each that offer access to a number of different external spaces.

The building is conceived as a series of concentric layers, sliding past one another to define movement patterns, provide solidity or transparency, enclosure or spatial continuity. Stairs, hallways, ramps and decks are located to allow the user to experience the geometry of the house and integrate the external spaces with the interior.

The layering of the house seeks to form a dialogue with the local geography, echoing the folds of hills that surround the Derwent estuary.

Conversely, radial walls define rooms or dissect the curves to create opportunities of counter-movement and to connect spaces.

External materials finishes are robust and subdued, providing a neutral palette in the bush environment.

Masonry perimeter walls on the south and west faces form a defensive barrier to the predominant weather systems and potential bushfire threat. Double-glazed windows in these walls create opportunities to engage with the adjacent bushland, yet still provide adequate protection against these hazards.

Roofs all fall away from these parapet faces into the central courtyard in order to avoid gutters or eaves facing potential fire frontages that might normally be vulnerable flame ingress points.

Rainwater is allowed to fall from these roofs and is collected in a drainage swale as part of the landscape works.

Spaces fronting the central courtyard to the north and east are predominantly glazed, allowing passive solar gain in winter, but shaded by extended eaves to provide summer sun protection.


The building is constructed with etched bluestone concrete block as the predominant external wall finish. Feature stone walls, small areas of steel cladding and cement sheet will complement the blockwork in selected areas to help define the layering of the building.

STATUS:

Under Construction 2010

The great Southern Ocean pounds relentlessly on the southern shores of Australia's island state. The Ricketts house is perched on the tertiary dunes at Clifton Beach with framed views to the surf. The house is slung from a crude timber frame which straddles the dunes.

A tough curved timber wall shields the house from the southerlies gusting off Storm Bay. The house presents its full length to the northern sun; the extensive glazing blurs the transition from interior to the coastal landscape

STATUS:

Completion December 1998

To live in Hobart is to live in the shadow of the wall. To its west, Hobart is defined by the escarpment of Mount Wellington, its physical dominance forming a protective shield from the fury of the Roaring Forties. The easterly aspect with its breathtaking views across the Derwent estuary to Bruny Island belies the adversity of the site, subject to extremes of weather including winter snowfalls.

Situated in its foothills and placed on a shelving of the steep pastoral landscape, an existing bluestone cottage constructed by the owner becomes a latent genesis for the composition.

The house comprises a sequence of three distinct pavilions, set within and forming a series of courtyards nestled into an existing escarpment and connected by a circulation spine running along the contours of the hillside. The soul of the house finds its ultimate expression in the massive bluestone entrance wall running perpendicular to the main axis.

In microcosm, the north wall of the house draws on the memory of the moutainscape, its strong lines abstracting the harmonious counterplay of tectonic forces evident in the mountain’s form, connecting the house emphatically to its cultural and physical contexts. Anchored firmly to the cutting at its western end, the tapered and angled form works against the natural slope of the land ultimately reconnected as the site falls away.

Deep reveals, fractured incisions in the face of the wall, help define its strength with the play of light and shade. Penetration of the wall, marked by a simple canopy, reveals a number of dualities evident in the building. The solidity of the wall becomes a counterpoint to the transparency of the glazed pavilions beyond. A feeling of openness is generated by a plan that alternates built form with open space, constantly balanced by the reassuring presence of the wall. From within the main pavilion, the introspective nature of the courtyards is countered as the wall is read again, its plastic expression embracing the views and extending the spatial dynamics of the room beyond its physical boundaries to the infinite horizon.

The traditional loadbearing construction technique evident throughout the building uses a shutter system developed by the owner, providing an equal proportion of stone and mortar. The natural textures and colours of the materials imbue the house with an austere luminosity and warmth when illuminated through the large expanses of glass, creating an ethereal light and a monastic silence.

STATUS:

Completion January 1995

PHOTOGRAPHY:

Richard Eastwood

17-21 Hunter Street is a four- storey sandstone building built between 1830 and 1840 and for much of its life was part of the Henry Jones IXL jam manufacturing complex.

In more recent years, the ground floor has become a Hobart institution as the 'Drunken Admiral' restaurant, while the upper floors have generally remained derelict and unoccupied.

The building is highly significant to the history and evolution of the Hunter Street precinct. To respect this significance, no changes have been made to the external walls, whilst a new lift, stair and five contemporary apartments have been inserted into the existing building shell.

Planning of the new spaces minimizes contact of new walls and fitments with the original building fabric and enabled the modern apartment installations to sit comfortably within the old stone walls.

STATUS:

Completion August 2005

PHOTOGRAPHY:

Richard Eastwood