Bardon House

The catalyst for this design was the creation of a contemporary expression of the vernacular in a hilly part of Brisbane, Australia. The house creates a form and expression that, whilst respectful and familiar, is stridently new in abstracting the forms of its neighbours. The situation of the block was a traditional subdivision facing due north over a well treed reserve and wide enough to provide large north facing spaces. Its frontage amongst an established avenue of large gabled interwar houses had a completely different personality as it fell steeply to the reserve. A small existing fibro dwelling had replaced the original house which burnt down in the 1980’s. The gables and hip roofs of the area are represented in a simplified triangulation of shapes that drape over the plan. A skylight inserted into the roof form defines the entry and obscures inside from out. The frontage is a screened edge that forms a transition space between landscape and entry providing privacy and a play of light and shade. The plan itself borrows from the simplicity of traditional plans with clear options at entry of stepping up slightly to bedrooms on the upper level or descending a flight into the living level. The bedrooms are aligned on the eastern side with the screening of the entry replicated to provide privacy whilst allowing full height ventilation. The main bedroom and ensuite are at the end of this run and perched amongst the trees and connected with them through seamless glazing and low level louvres. Descending to the living level brings you into the landscape as the plan wraps around an internal courtyard and reaches out to the reserve. The entire northern edge of this space is a panorama to the mid-levels of trees and feels as a promontory as glass doors slide away with soft planting recessed at the floor edge the only barrier. An ordered plan opens up on all edges so that the living spaces are part veranda part promontory in the landscape as the courtyard landscape melds with the landscape beyond. A further descent brings you to the lower family space that has a direct connection to a terrace and pool at a natural ground level. This space with raw concrete ceilings is cool and protected space that also opens up to create a fluid connection to the yard and landscape beyond. The house is expressed as a structure that is grounded space that strongly connected to its sloping site and landscape with an intricate fabric of hoop pine panelling and screening lime washed in ceilings doors and joinery elements in the main living spaces as a backdrop for dark stained timber and elements and details. The result is a comfortable yet intriguing collection of forms and materials put together in a new and skillful way. The materials and screens are deconstructed to reveal triangulated shapes and framework that complete the exterior forms and connect strongly to its Queenslander context.