An organic shadow on a green horizon. Federal House by Edition Office
27/12/2021.
[Federal - New South Wales] Australia
metalocus, CARLOS GONZÁLEZ
metalocus, CARLOS GONZÁLEZ
Australian architecture studio, Edition Office, was commissioned to design this black house using black-pigmented concrete and black timber battens, in the small Federal town, New South Wales, in Australia.
At a distance, Edition Office designed the house as an abstract object purposefully foreign to the Bundjalung country landscape in which it is located, " recessive, a shadow within the vast landscape". On closer inspection, outside a texturally skin with thick timber battens contrasts the earlier sense of a "machined tectonic", allowing an organic vision with the human intimacy of inside.
At a distance, Edition Office designed the house as an abstract object purposefully foreign to the Bundjalung country landscape in which it is located, " recessive, a shadow within the vast landscape". On closer inspection, outside a texturally skin with thick timber battens contrasts the earlier sense of a "machined tectonic", allowing an organic vision with the human intimacy of inside.
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Federal House by Edition Office. Photograph by Ben Hosking
Ground floor plan. Federal House by Edition Office.
Pool floor plan. Federal House by Edition Office.
Sections. Federal House by Edition Office.
South and east elevations. Federal House by Edition Office.
North and west elevations. Federal House by Edition Office.
Edition Office paid special attention to the typology common among Australia's colonial homesteads, the house uses a verandah partially covered deck area as intermediate space between interior and exterior wrapping a central living, dining and kitchen space.
This deck was designed lined with black timber battens that filter air, views on the western edge, and left entirely open for panoramic views to the north creating a special connection to the surrounding landscape.
«Discussions with the client which drew from texts by Zumthor, Tanizaki, and Pallasmaa, allowed the journey into this atypical condition and they must be applauded for venturing into the unknown here.»
All spaces are naturally ventilated with air drawn across the cooler pool surface and flow the upper verandah spaces, helping to stabilize the ambient temperature throughout the home.
Rainwater is harvested in a 60,000L tank. The building utilizes an aerated wastewater treatment system and includes infrastructure to utilize a PV solar array on the future storage shed.
Project description by Edition Office
Architecture, specifically the house, is an act of enabling shelter, a vessel through which in turn enables habitation and the ongoing experience of a particular time and place. Within the folding hills of its hinterland site, the Federal House acts as both experiential containers for this place and as a conditioning object, consciously aware of its outsider status within the traditional ownership and legacy of this landscape.
The project was considered as a vehicle for a relationship between “site and modifier”, the place and the object, and envisaged to enable multiple readings, from beyond and from within.
At distance, the building is recessive, a shadow within the vast landscape. On arrival the project's fifth façade, the roof, transfers the work into sharp relief, a precise object purposefully foreign to its Bundjalung country landscape and the deep time frame of the indigenous heritage in which it is located. On closer inspection, a highly textural outer skin of thick timber battens contrasts the earlier sense of a machined tectonic, allowing organic material gestures to drive the dialogue with physical human intimacy.
A reverberation of the settler-colonial homesteads typology, the home carries verandah DNA into a tightly-controlled envelope allowing modestly scaled living and bedroom spaces to expand into a covered outdoor living space. This expansion and contraction of the interior allow shifts between the intimate and the public, between immediate landscape and the expansive unfolding landscape to the north. The deep verandah space allows for a shadow gradient to emerge between inner and outer thresholds, enhancing the sense of sanctuary from the surroundings and its variable weather conditions. It allows one to be outside in torrential rain and avoid the burning midday sun.
Anchoring the project beneath the upper platform is a subterranean pool, linked to a planted void in the heart of the home. On entry, this void allows a glimpse through ferns to the still body of water beneath. Alternate to the expanding upper level, the descent into the pool void reveals an intense interiority, the lighter upper materiality giving way to heavy mass, grounding the building and bringing with it a heightened sense of place. On entering the water, the building becomes an instrument for the phenomenological. The mirrored horizon at the end of the pool draws one to its edge, and back again to the garden platform, its cavernous volume resembling a more closely freshwater swimming hole than a classic lap pool. Discussions with the client which drew from texts byZumthor, Tanizaki, and Pallasmaa, allowed the journey into this atypical condition and they must be applauded for venturing into the unknown here.
All spaces are naturally ventilated with air drawn across the cooler pool surface and into the upper surrounding verandah spaces, helping to stabilize the ambient temperature throughout the home. Rainwater is harvested in an a60,000L tank. The building utilizes an aerated wastewater treatment system and includes infrastructure to utilize a PV solar array on the planned future storage shed.
More information
Architects
Edition Office. Lead Architects.-Kim Bridgland, Aaron Roberts.
Collaborators
Landscape Designer.- Florian Wild.
Structural Engineer.- Westera Partners.
Builder
SJ Reynolds Constructions.
Area
424 m².
Dates
2020-2021.
Manufacturers
Focus
Location
Federal, New South Wales, Australia.
Photography
Kim Bridgland Edition Office
Edition Office is an architecture studio based in Melbourne, Australia. Through the execution of its built work and research, the practice is creating an ongoing series of figures, relics, stories and relationships; all continuing a greater investigation into material & spatial practice. Edition Office engage with their work as a long form negotiation between a series of modifiers (people/place) and conditioning objects (buildings/relics). They design houses and buildings that exist within the layered realms of their environment, their place. These built projects act as an interface between a place and its occupier and set up an ongoing relationship of colliding adjacencies, where the latent histories of each party are bled into the next. Edition Office is Kim Bridgland (Director), Aaron Roberts (Director), Molly Hibberd, Jonathan Brener, Laura Tindall, Karl Buck, Jane Roberts, Erin Watson.
Recent awards.-
Emerging Architect of the Year – 2019 Dezeen Awards, The Design Files – Emerging Design Studio, 2019 Victorian Architecture Awards, Residential Houses New, 2019 Victorian Architecture Awards – Commercial Architecture – Commendation, 2019 Houses Awards, Emerging Practice Award, 2019 Houses Awards – Commendation – Hawthorn House, 2019 Houses Awards – Commendation – Pt Lonsdale House, 2019 INDE, Awards – The Design Studio (International) – Honorable mention, 2019 NGV Architectural Commission, 2018 Dulux Study Tour, Victorian Architecture Awards 2018 shortlist, Small Project Architecture, Victorian Architecture Awards 2017, Residential Houses New Award,Houses Awards 2017, New House Over 200M2 Award, Houses Awards 2017, Sustainability Award, Houses Awards 2017, Emerging Practice Commendation, Thinkbrick Awards 2017, Horbury Hunt Residential Award Finalist, Architeam Awards 2016, Residential New Award, Architeam Awards 2016, Architeam Medal Winner
Recent shortlists : Hawthorn House (International), 2019 Architizer Awards – Hawthorn House (International), 2019 Architectural ReviewHouse Awards for – Hawthorn House (International), 2019 Australian Interior Design Awards – Residential Design for – Hawthorn House, 2019 Australian Interior Design Awards – Residential Design for – Pt Lonsdale House, 2019 The Design Files – Residential Design – Hawthorn House, 2019 The Design Files – Residential Design – Pt Lonsdale House, 2019 Timber Design Award – Pt Lonsdale House
Recent awards.-
Emerging Architect of the Year – 2019 Dezeen Awards, The Design Files – Emerging Design Studio, 2019 Victorian Architecture Awards, Residential Houses New, 2019 Victorian Architecture Awards – Commercial Architecture – Commendation, 2019 Houses Awards, Emerging Practice Award, 2019 Houses Awards – Commendation – Hawthorn House, 2019 Houses Awards – Commendation – Pt Lonsdale House, 2019 INDE, Awards – The Design Studio (International) – Honorable mention, 2019 NGV Architectural Commission, 2018 Dulux Study Tour, Victorian Architecture Awards 2018 shortlist, Small Project Architecture, Victorian Architecture Awards 2017, Residential Houses New Award,Houses Awards 2017, New House Over 200M2 Award, Houses Awards 2017, Sustainability Award, Houses Awards 2017, Emerging Practice Commendation, Thinkbrick Awards 2017, Horbury Hunt Residential Award Finalist, Architeam Awards 2016, Residential New Award, Architeam Awards 2016, Architeam Medal Winner
Recent shortlists : Hawthorn House (International), 2019 Architizer Awards – Hawthorn House (International), 2019 Architectural ReviewHouse Awards for – Hawthorn House (International), 2019 Australian Interior Design Awards – Residential Design for – Hawthorn House, 2019 Australian Interior Design Awards – Residential Design for – Pt Lonsdale House, 2019 The Design Files – Residential Design – Hawthorn House, 2019 The Design Files – Residential Design – Pt Lonsdale House, 2019 Timber Design Award – Pt Lonsdale House
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