The distinction between a private realm and a public space for entertaining was the focus of the clients’ brief. “They have two young children, so they needed a family home, but they are also great supporters of the arts and host many formal events,” explains Tony Chenchow, co-founder of Chenchow Little. In response to these two equally significant yet separate functions, the project was conceived in two parts, with the new addition and the original cottage designed as parallel structures.
The existing house was sympathetically renovated to restore the integrity of the original colonial architecture, which had been lost due to an ill-fitting extension in the 1980s. The removal of this extension opened up the site to the south and exposed its significant depth. Following the steep topography of the land, which falls the equivalent of five storeys from the street to the water’s edge below, the new addition was inserted along the side of the cottage. As a result, a new entry sequence was created that lightly touches the edge of the family home as it descends to the formal dining and lounge.
Set behind a high sandstone wall, Redwood gives very little away from the street. Yet this discrete public face is revealing in its own way, exemplifying the degree to which the experience is stage-managed from the outset. Like a theatre curtain, the blank wall and narrow doorway build anticipation by withholding what lies beyond. Stepping through the doorway into the entry forecourt, which is protected by a sculptural concrete canopy, a line of sight is immediately offered to the harbour and city skyline. This moment of revelation is deliberately curtailed, however,
by the geometry of the architecture that demands one turn away from this glimpse of view to delve deeper and descend into the building via an internal stairway.
The steep fall of the site means that both the living level of the family home and the new formal gathering spaces are significantly below the height of the street, so “the challenge was in moving people down two levels in a memorable and poetic way,” says Tony. The entry sequence is funnelled downwards through the stairway that curves to one side, accentuating a feeling of compression. As a result, the transition is marked by a sense of the theatrical, delaying the view and elongating the perspective by denying any visual indication of the destination.
|
v
发表于 2020-7-13 14:49:49
已绑定手机
