In coastal Brisbane, a new house by Cavill Architects orients family life around a verdant courtyard sanctuary, posing an unexpected response to the conventions of suburban housing.
From the street, a gable roof and fence-like perforated garage panels suit the suburban locale.
Located in the suburb of Manly, nestled into the edge of Moreton Bay, Earl Parade Residence is tuned to its location, designed to enable its occupants to experience the coastal lifestyle of bayside Brisbane. The site for the new house was a relatively flat block, sandwiched between two other suburban properties, and the lack of character in the immediate surrounds gave Cavill Architects licence to shape the ground level into an undulating topography. The creation of an artificial rise and fall across the site was motivated in part by the practice’s aim to recuperate the city with nature, one site at a time. It was also a practical measure to direct overland flow and a means to create a lush garden environment at the heart of the property. For the clients, the house represented the opportunity to pursue their love of gardening while living in a freshly formed landscape.
The house is organized into four main parts. Facing the street is an entryway and garage constructed from elegant white perforated panels, which soften the facade’s relationship to the suburban setting by maint-aining a fence-like demeanour. Next is the intensively landscaped outdoor room, the centre of the house, which sits parallel to a double-storey box containing accommodation and services, pushed onto the long southern edge of the property. Finally, at the rear, an open yard space accessed by a generous stair preserves memories of backyard play.
Along the site’s northern edge is an outdoor room, around which public spaces are arranged.
The entire property revolves around the concept of the outdoor room, an architectural type now embedded in the design culture of subtropical Queensland. The character of the outdoor room at Earl Parade is of the house hollowed out. Cavill Architects interprets this type by generating a double-height space of ruinous quality. Deep-edged skylights puncture the roof and dramatically capture and channel natural light, while a trellis wall covered in orange trumpet vine creeper shields the interior from neighbouring views. The arrangement confers a timeless quality, rarely found at the domestic scale. The space is, as practice director Sandy Cavill describes it, a “private sanctuary” for the family to gather and relax in. Nevertheless, the sense of seclusion does not mean a lack of connection to the surrounding environment. The outdoor room operates as a device to catch and control access to natural light and bay breezes, also framing views over the garden and to the sky, while blocking unwanted visual connections. A deck, slightly elevated from the garden, is the stage from which to watch the changes of the day. The relationship between the outdoor room and the adjacent house is interdependent; the windows of the bedrooms on the first floor give onto the internal garden, stressing the communal character of the outdoor space.
Small windows on the narrow southern boundary admit light but preserve privacy. Artwork: Lena Pwerle.
Catering to the family’s budget, the project privileges architectural spatial solutions in the design process. Staying within the means of a modest budget was a rewarding challenge, which Cavill Architects has faced by valuing space over lavish detailing. As a result, the overall built volume is based on a clear and simple scheme: on the ground floor, public spaces are set in parallel with the outdoor room, while at the eastern end, adjacent to the kitchen, a single stair rises to a gun-barrel corridor on the long southern side of the first floor. Luminously lit, the corridor feeds into the private spaces that look out to the outdoor room. The straightforwardness of the upstairs accommodation is counterpointed by the complexity of the external void against which it sits. Here, conventional metal-framed windows, generously proportioned, keep the look and feel deliberately neutral, their low sills inviting occupants to enjoy connecting back into the outdoor room. This allows the texture and spatial character of the outdoor room to come forward as the defining presence, adding an intricacy of experience – given by layered views of landscape and the shifting qualities of filtered and diffuse light. The timber-framed doors on the ground floor between the outdoor room and kitchen and lounge areas give priority to tactility in places where the family spends most of its time. In the rest of the building, materials and technologies are prosaic: aluminium window frames, cover strip panelling – reminiscent of the coastal shack – and a low gable roof profile. Yet the inventiveness of the overall spatial solution of the outdoor room has the strength to absorb these customary elements and synthetizes them into a memorable experience.
At Earl Parade Residence, Cavill Architects reminds us that the power of architecture can be primarily deployed through careful spatial planning. Beside any issue of budget, it is the play of light and void, poetically rendered, that can lead to an exemplary outcome. To value space over detail is an effective strategy to make the well-designed house accessible to the many – as an alternative to the luxury of detailing, accessible mainly to the few.
Published online: 11 Feb 2022 Words: Silvia Micheli, Antony Moulis Images: Christopher Frederick Jones
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From the street, a gable roof and fence-like perforated garage panels suit the suburban locale.
Along the site’s northern edge is an outdoor room, around which public spaces are arranged.
Tactile materials are prioritized in areas where the family spends most of its time.
Living spaces open up to the outdoor room, encouraging connection with the landscape.
Small windows on the narrow southern boundary admit light but preserve privacy. Artwork: Lena Pwerle.
Lavish detailing is avoided in favour of budget-driven modesty in service spaces.
The courtyard is protected from overlooking neighbours yet open to views of the sky and rear garden.
At the rear of the site, a raised deck and garden provide more opportunities for outside play.
Verdant sanctuary: Earl Parade Residence
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