Plywood House II by Andrew Burges Architects
Located in Bondi, Sydney, Australia, this two-storey residence was designed in 2013 by Andrew Burges Architects.
Description by Andrew Burges Architects
This brief was for a new two-story house within a varied, tightly scaled streetscape of detached houses and apartment buildings in Bondi. The block for the house was long and thin – the type of block that produces the awkward ‘shot-gun’ corridor organization of many semi’s and detached houses within Sydney’s denser suburbs.
The concept was to create an exterior envelope that directly expressed the long, thin site geometry, but to use the elements of the interior to shift and break down the typical linear corridor space, using the interior geometry to orientate the house away from neighbors and to orchestrate connections with the sky and the garden from both levels of the interior.
The materials used were affordable and created a coastal feel for the house – ecoply cladding for the body of the house and a concrete capping block to create a textured base for the house. Within the simple block-like building form, the windows were used to animate the exterior. On the lower level the window openings are varied and opportunistic – finding points of sky or natural light to suit the specific uses they contain. On the upper level, a continuous strip of windows and screens capitalize on the opportunities for light, sun, and outlook that the second story allows, framed by privacy screens to account for their added exposure.
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- by Matt Watts
