Tait Modern
When building a second home, most people don’t consider traveling farther than upstate. But the Taits built theirs 30 hours away on the coast of Tasmania.
Rugged Bruny Island, off the southeast coast of Tasmania, is about as far away from Rochester, New York, as you can get. Just ask Amy and Bob Tait, who call both places home. Plane-hopping from Rochester to Chicago to Los Angeles to Sydney and finally to Hobart, then driving two hours south and catching a ferry will get you there in about 30 hours. A long haul for a vacation? Perhaps, concedes Amy, but nothing a good novel, an in-flight movie, and a glass of wine can’t fix.
During a “once in a lifetime” trip to Australia a few years ago, the Taits fell in love with picturesque Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost island state. Back in the States after their sojourn, Amy—whose background is in real estate—surfed the Internet looking for Tasmanian properties. She found 500 acres on Bruny Island up for sale and before you could say “advanced search” had flown halfway around the world again to check it out in person. “As soon as I set foot on this property, I knew it was the one,” she recalls. “It doesn’t reveal itself to you all at once, there is just so much to discover.”
Like all pioneers, the Taits then turned their thoughts to shelter. They found the Hobart firm of 1 + 2 Architecture, and began a long conversation with directors Mike Verdouw, Cath Hall, and Fred Ward. According to the architects, the out-of-towners were extremely receptive to notions of a contemporary, sensitive response to the rugged waterfront site.
“Initially they came to us and asked for a log cabin in the woods,” Ward recalls. “We explained that here we don’t really call it ‘the woods’ and that we don’t really do log cabins. They were very open to our suggestion that the house be a contemporary Australian response.”
The design—resolved via countless emails and conference calls—was largely driven by the remoteness of the location, which called for complete self-sufficiency.
The Taits’ site has no municipal water, power, or sewer connections, so the architects had to balance their clients’ modern needs with certain practical considerations.
“It’s all new to me,” admits Amy, who is grateful that an onsite caretaker keeps things ticking when they’re not there. They got most of their wishes—hot tub, dishwasher, clothes dryer—but had to agree to a smaller one-level house instead of a larger double-story design. “There was some compromise on their part,” says Ward. “We couldn’t have heated a really big volume.”
The house observes passive solar design principles, and most of its power comes from six photovoltaic cells mounted on a disused shipping container parked in a sunny clearing about 100 feet from the house. The architects angled the solar panels on a tilted roof to make the most of the intense sun in this somewhat ozone-depleted region. “We like to recycle where possible, so the shipping container was a good cost-effective option,” says Mike Verdouw.
Rain collects in two 2,600-gallon tanks nestled in the shade near the house and the water is channeled underground, via four-inch conduit, into the kitchen and bathrooms. Portable gas cylinders fuel the hot-water system and the cooking appliances. Bathroom and kitchen waste is collected underground and processed in a septic tank before being dispersed around the garden via a network of subterranean trenches. Rod Cooper, who designed this passive system, encouraged the Taits to plant native shrubs along the trenches, as the plants absorb the nutrients from the waste and the rest seeps into the earth or gets evaporated by the sun and wind.
Lightweight, inexpensive, low-maintenance building materials were deemed essential, especially given the site’s access difficulties and the foul weather during construction. The structure is a combination of galvanized steel and timber on a raised steel sub-frame floor, and the exterior is clad in oiled timber planks. Inside there’s low-fuss plasterboard, polished hardwood flooring, and neutral-toned carpet.
At present, the Taits visit their remote island hideaway once or twice a year to steal some quiet moments before heading back to work, school, and other commitments in Rochester. Eventually, they plan to scale things back and make much more time for Bruny Island. “The seasons are opposite, so we’ll be able to have summer in Rochester, then a second summer in Tasmania,” says Amy, with more than a hint of glee.
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The Flying Nun habit of the roof line + the raised deck footings = a niche-in-nature-landing-pad.
That's obscene. Flying 30 hours (and one presumes business class from the context), repeatedly, to reach a SECOND home on the other side of the world is the epitome of unsustainability. And that home itself is hardly small, and no doubt involves a lot of driving for logistical support. The amount of embedded energy and ecological damage in that house is huge, and they built it for occasional use. Who gives a fig whether they have solar panels on that home? Or whether they use rainwater? The whole thing is freakin' planet-killing lifestyle, morally bankrupt and completely without justification. Dwell should be doing better than this by now.
Hope y'all read these comments, 'cause he's right on.
I agree with Whatever.......another millionaire project ......when will Dwell learn everybody who subscribes isn't wealthy?????????? My ideal in a company who believes in good design but understands most people aren't wealthy is IKEA ......you could learn a lot from them .......but you won't because you'r all from the monied class in Stupid Francisco!!!!!!!!!! Jim
Did the sunny "clearing" for the shipping containered photo-voltaic cells already exist or as usual was it part of the development? Ecologically sustainable embedded design principles don't just stop at the DWELLing and its associated infrastructure. Looks to me from the foreground that they pretty much nuked the site..its a pity a lot of people who turn up in this country don't really get its fragile environment...
It's true that Dwell can be shallow in it's reporting and showing of a project. There is so much lacking by not showing materials and manufacturers, plans, sections, elevations etc. But would such depth sell to the average buyer at the supermarket checkout stand? We are all inspired by the amazing houses with lots of glass, but they happen to cost a lot of money. Glass is not efficient by the way, but it connects us to nature and is a major ingredient in a modern home. We have to face the fact that a magazine like Dwell would have not be published it it did not jump off the shelf and did not have advertisers of expensive products. The biggest criticism I have is that there are so few pictures for each project. Dwell is put to shame by all the architecture blogs out there like ArchDaily. Why not a DwellDaily?
woow
tahnk you nice post
I agree with Whatever.......another millionaire project
Great inspiration, obviously not practical, but I don't subscribe to a catalog.
Right, I keep thinking there will be a project that is : 1) NOT conceived and built by an architect; 2) NOT a millionaire project; 3) Digested in a way that makes me feel I can create the changes I dream of in my dwelling, without sacrificing my beliefs. True, DWELL is somewhat elitist in its showcasing and content. It's a fine line between me and my magazine: I like the candy, but yes I want depth and meaning too.
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