Project Description

The Green House is a finely resolved balancing act between old and new, with respect for past teachings, caught in a dwelling for the future.

In the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s, the now century old workers cottages of Spring Hill were either butchered, demolished or eaten alive by termites. A few survived with scars to show past owner’s indiscretions. Fast forward to 2020’s and these remaining gems require nurturing to breathe new life into them, ensuring their future relevancy is protected and maintained.

Empathy and respect can be found by the employment of contrast, and the Green House exemplifies this philosophy which allows the new and the old to reside together and to tell their own story in isolation or in collective concert.

At just over 50sqm per floor and on a 10x20meter block, functional flexibility and adaptability of space was of paramount consideration.

Borrowing and extending views has resulted in a feeling of openness, and the illusion of a large house, while maintaining privacy.

But the Green House is not about maximizing; it is about quality over quantity through meticulously resolved detailed solutions; a home to replenish and uplift the occupant’s soul, while bringing order, elegance and grace to everyday living.

Passing through a pivoting entry door, a brass top kitchen folds out to an explosive seven meter high outdoor room, with reflection pond and lush green sunken yard beyond. The living spaces are curtained by a glass wall that retracts in two

planes, and a cascading perimeter planter that purposely softens the composition and brings life through shadow and wind play.

Fabricated from steel plate, the main staircase’s mid-landing dynamically cantilevers (using two tonnes of self-weight) towards the street with three sides in-filled with louvers to function as the lungs of the house. In combination, attic louvers assists to induce air-currents creating a thermal stack effect.

Upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms feature robust interior finished dominated by grey ironbark surfaces and recycled hardwood framing. Frosted glass walls adjacent the main staircase borrows light from the bathrooms.

An attic spiral staircase, assembled from pre-fabricated components is a statement piece that challenges conventional design with step-threads cantilevered off the perimeter, thus simplifying the handrail to a singular vertical timber dowel.

While Queenslanders are appropriately designed for sub-tropical climates, left unaltered they can be uncomfortable in the extremes of summer and winter. Rain and solar (hot water and electricity) harvesting, combined with focused ventilation opportunities, and strengthened by passive solar winter heat storage in the thermal mass of the concrete floors and walls, has resulted in the completed dwelling maintaining a comfortable temperature year-round without reliance on active heating or cooling. A responsible attitude towards sustainability has also brought a sense of purpose and comfort.

Respectful, but contemporary preservation has successfully secured the character of this historic home for another one hundred years.

‘Our duty is to give buildings a new lease of life’, Carlo Scarpa once said, ‘so that they may be able to live today and tomorrow’.