Part A: Research of the Exemplar 2 - C House

By Donovan Hill Architects (1998)

Location : Coorparoo, Brisbane

Date of construction : 1991 - 1998

Category : Dwellings Houses

Structural Systems & Elements : Concrete Construction

                                                         Timber Construction

Building Materials : Concrete

                              Timber

                              Sandstone

                              Glass

                              Stone Cladding

Architectural Features : Three storey

                                    Outdoor Room

                                    Stone clad walls

                                    Timber soffits

                                    Timber battens

                                    Translucen flat sheet polycarbonate

                                    Benches (seats)

                                    Iwans [4]

                                                                                                                              Exterior of the hosue

http://www.donovanhill.com.au/mainmenu.htm(accessed March 6, 2010)

Facade of the house

http://www.donovanhill.com.au/mainmenu.htm(accessed March 6, 2010)

Interior of the house

http://www.donovanhill.com.au/mainmenu.htm(accessed March 6, 2010)

Interior of the house

http://www.donovanhill.com.au/mainmenu.htm(accessed March 6, 2010)

Interior of the house
http://www.donovanhill.com.au/mainmenu.htm(accessed March 6, 2010)

Interior of the house

http://www.donovanhill.com.au/mainmenu.htm(accessed March 6, 2010)

After eight years of design and construction, Brisbane architects Donovan Hill have completed one of Australia’s largest and most conceptually complex houses. Created for a businessman, the ‘C House’ tightly occupies a steep, suburban site (accessed from a right-of-way) with distant views of the city. It has been constructed principally of fine-grade concrete and is intricately elaborated with cabinets, screens and finishes in fine timbers, metals, glass and ceramic tiles. The plan arranges rooms of various dimensions and volumes on four levels connected by 16 flights of steps. [1]

As an Environmental Filter

The site has been refashioned into a series of overlapping sub-sites (both indoor and outdoor), with their interconnections across the climbing topography resembling experiences typical of ‘terrain’. The landscape metaphor has been extended beyond physical representation to enable the everyday experience of occupation to be as if it were in a landscape. [1]

As a Container of Human Activities

A set of private rooms are gathered around, under and above the ‘public’ or ‘memorable’ space of the site – a large outdoor room. The house anticipates future generations by offering an adaptable planning scheme. The household might be a single family, shared singles/couples, extended family or home office. [2]

As a Delightful Experience

C House has been identified by architectural critics as one of the most significant house of the tweentieth century, Palladio, Le Corbusier, Wright, Scarpa and modern Japanese architecture have been citied as influences. [3]

Reference:

[1]Architecture Media. 2010.The Domestic Ideal. Retrieved 2 March 2010 from http://www.archmedia.com.au/aa/aaissue.php?article=4&issueid=199905&typeon=2 (accessed March 7, 2010)
[2] Donovan Hill. n.d. C House. http://www.donovanhill.com.au/mainmenu.htm (accessed March 9, 2010).

[3]Jackson, D and Johnson, C. 2000. Australian Architecture Now. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
[4] Keniger. 2006. Timber-framed windows, C House, Coorparoo, Brisbane. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view.php?pid=UQ:11678 (accessed March 9, 2010).