The practice, Archterra Architects, is led by Paul O'Reilly which has travelled thru Japan, the United States and New Zealand to study the local architecture and uses this experience to inform his design approach.
When not being an Architect, Paul spends time hanging out and travelling with his kids, mountain biking, and looking after the family's cattle. Paul has been a registered architect in Western Australia since 1997 and is a member of the Australian Institute of Architects. He also makes a pretty good butter chicken curry.
Description of the project by Archterra Architects
Diagrammatically, the house's simple rectangular plan is separated east-west into sleeping and living zones and delineated by a change in floor level and a grounding rammed earth wall that continues thru the house into the outdoors. The rammed earth wall also defines the entry approach from the detached vehicle parking area.
All rooms face to the north to take advantage of the warming winter sun, except the main bedroom which turns to face the southwest views and enjoys spectacular sunsets filtered through the vertical trunks of the surrounding tree canopy. The single bathroom enjoys the same orientation as the main bedroom and opens onto the bush via a glass door to give the experience of showering outside. Two decked areas provide alternative ways to experience the outdoors – one open overhead for winter sun and star gazing to the north and a covered deck to the east for rain and sun protection.
The roof plane rises up to the north to provide a view of the sky and treetops through cedar-framed clerestory windows that provide a warm and tactile contrast to the clear anodised sliding door frames.
Taking cues from the Californian cases study houses of the 40s, 50s and 60s, a 3.6m structural grid locates prefabricated steel frames that enabled the main support structure to be erected in a day and for infill timber framing to be subsequently carried out by the owner-builder within these frames under the protection of a simple single roof plane. The galvanised steel framing is expressed both internally and externally and its mottled patina continues to change as it ages.
Environmental sustainability is intrinsic to the design: passive measures such as efficient cross flow ventilation for summer cooling and calculated eaves overhangs for warming winter sun penetration are teamed with active measures such as power self-sufficiency from a 3kW ground mounted solar array, a solar hot water system and a worm farm blackwater filtration system that irrigates the garden with nutrient-rich water.
All decking is recycled jarrah, milled from large dismantled warehouse roof beams. Ceiling linings are Australian Hoop pine from plantation forests and are finished simply with linseed oil. The plywood ceiling continues outside to the decks and eaves to accentuate the indoor-outdoor feeling.
The house employs a concrete floor slab for thermal mass, which has been simply machine trowelled smooth to provide a hardwearing and cost-effective solution.
External materials were selected to be largely self-finishing to minimise maintenance: zincalume steel, rammed earth, glass - all decking is recycled jarrah.
