OCCUPYING THE PERIPHERY
Carport Tree-House
Location
Northbridge, Sydney
Completion
2004
Type
Residential
Traditional Custodians
Cammeraygal
Our brief was to design a swimming pool and provide on-site parking on a large sloping suburban site – our first recommendation was to restrict any construction to the site’s periphery to protect its greatest asset – a beautiful established garden in the centre of the site.
To protect the site’s beautiful terraced garden while solving the problem of a lack of on-site parking, we proposed a two storey floating pavilion with a tree structure that minimised the point of contact between the building structure and the landscape below. The compactness of more miniaturised functional spaces, such as boats and caravans, shaped our design for the interior. We worked with both physically tight spaces and the idea of each element having a range of functions – kitchen bench and study desk, window seat and bed and storage.
Plan and Section
The building was conceived as a two-storey steel structure with minimal impact on the garden below, inspiring the tree like diagonal supports that minimised connection points into the ground below. The early construction of the steel framework provided a glimpse of a very different possibility for the building – a lightweight, transparent open garden room.
Credits
Team
Andrew Burges, Mike Rehrmann, Min Dark, Celia Carroil
Builder
Coddington Constructions
Press
2008
Houses Magazine