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Project Details:

Location: Point Leo, Victoria, Australia

Architect: Branch Studio Architects / @brancharch

Photographer: Peter Clarke / @peterclarkephoto

From the Architect: “Casa Bobbanarring is sited between a large open grassed area setback to the street and foreshore to the south and a vividly contrasting green sanctuary space, dotted with large, seemingly charred black-trunked Blackwood trees to the north.

"The eastern and western edges of the site are pinned in by fairly nondescript two-story residential houses. Our clients came to us with an initial concept for a concrete house for themselves and their two teenage children. They were quite fond of the heavily concrete conceived Brazilian modernist architecture from the 1950s and beyond.  Sharing this same interest—our starting reference for the house was Oscar Niemeyer’s own house, Casa Canoas, from 1951, given its strong relationship to its site and expressive flowing concrete canopy which created a seamless transition between inside and outside.

“Casa Bobbanarring opens itself up to the north through a curve in the concrete roof profile. This allows natural light to permeate deep into internal areas such as an open-planned and continuous kitchen, living, and dining space within. The concrete roof form seemingly hovers over the lower concrete slab which is specifically elevated off the ground to provide relief from the ground plane and allow native grasses and the like to flow freely in and around the house.

“Bedrooms are placed around the perimeter of the building edges to the north, facing into the central court and into the forest beyond. Bathrooms and wet areas are treated as darker residual areas but all have their own visual connection to the primary courtyard and or captured landscape space within.

“At the southern end of the plan, a singular but multifunctional timber joinery unit provides areas for a study, bookcase, record player and TV nook space. This intervention allows the central family room to become more about conversation around a triangular fire place than watching TV.

“The frontage of the house was designed as a conceptual ‘hill’ to create a formal continuity with the landscape. Native landscape elements such as grasses and shrubs vegetate parts of the elevation to bunker the house within its site and context.

“The roof of the garage/gallery space is designed as a theatrical moment as it opens diagonally to reveal its internal contents. Our clients have a vintage car which they wanted to become a spectacle within the house. Along with a space for the car, the space has also been designed for art in mind becoming a dual programmed space depending on the clients activities. Access to the ‘jewel box’ is controlled through a motorized flap which opens to reveal the inside of the landscaped ‘hill’. A series of steps leads one down into the space where surfboards can be easily displayed and accessed.

“The material palette for the project is very specifically and intentionally minimal to further enhance the relation of the house with its site and context. The house consists of all concrete floors and formed line concrete ceilings, black aluminum windows as quite specific to our clients brief and environmental factors with the house’s proximity to the harsh costal environment, native Australian timber cladding externally and all joinery internally is treated in a singular timber veneer for visual cohesion and clarity of space.

“A series of apertures in the concrete roof allow light to celebrate and formally highlight specifically important areas such as the primary dining space.”

Also Appears In

Casa Bobbanarring