Philip Griffiths (Design Architect)
Calum Chalmers (Project Architect)
Consultants
Interior Design:
Susan Griffiths (Griffiths Design Group)
Structural Engineer:
Brian Nelson (Capital House Australasia)
Hydraulics:
Paul White (PM White & Partners)
Electrical:
Derek Butt (Engineering Technology Consultants)
Enviornmental:
Norbert Gabriels (Gabriels Environmental Design)
Quantity Surveryor:
Dominic Ward (Page Kirkland Group)
Builder:
Consortium Builders P/L
On a site overlooking Shenton Park Lake, the house is conceived as a gallery space to display the owner’s art collection. The building has a formal arrangement of spaces about a central gallery volume. The materials palette is of off-form concrete spine walls and polished concrete floors to provide a visually restrained background against which to display the art, while the more intimate spaces have softer finishes. The exterior spaces form an integral part of the interior, with the gallery space continuing outside to a reflecting pond with a colourful sculpture by Peter D. Cole and the dining area opening onto a deck on one side and an oasis courtyard with a beautiful frangipani preserved from the previous house. The views over the lake and park to the south-west with their expanses of lawn and mature trees are enjoyed from the living areas due to the stepped façade design. The house fully utilises the permitted building envelope of the site. The ESD components comprise orientation, window to wall ratios, solar shading, winter heat gain and insulation. Although the place is air conditioned, its heat load is minimised by the passive solar design and the thermal stability provided by the massive concrete walls running through the centre of the house.
