Taroona House
By Archier
Taroona House holistically embraces the environment.
On a steep and densely forested hill overlooking Hinsby Beach, the site had significant limitations we needed to negotiate while responding to the clients’ brief: they wanted a home that was fully immersed in nature and a studio space for their art practice.
Segmenting the house allows it to expand and contract according to the number and needs of occupants, reducing conditioned floor area and thus reducing energy usage. Cantilevering created openings between the structures and the hillside, offering pathways for local wildlife and a concealed entry for the main house, below the upper floor.
The lower level consists of two bedrooms, a bathroom and a rumpus, while the upper level holds a living room, dining area, kitchen and laundry. The studio contains an art space with a wash area, a bathroom and a guest bedroom. The interior spaces were made with a dark timber palette that amplifies the activity of the bushland surrounding the house and the views to the powerful Derwent River.
The lack of sun on the site meant there was no threat of excessive thermal gain and allowed us to build a house with a complete glass envelope, immersing the occupants in the landscape through constant views of the surrounding bushland.
To achieve this we needed a structural window system to carry the weight of the roof, which wasn’t available on the local market. We decided to develop the solution ourselves and the directors of Archier designed, built and painted every mullion, header and seal in the house, which led to the formation of our architectural prefabrication company, Candour, that uses digital CAD plugins to connect architects to advance timber fabrication through a range of innovative timber building components.
Developing the window system was also the only way to achieve the desired result within the specified budget, and the use of timber and lack of steel in the windows created a more sustainable outcome, removing thermal bridges, complementing the passive house facade system that achieved a six star energy rating. We didn’t install solar panels due to the lack of sunlight, so the electricity comes from the Tasmanian grid, powered by hydroelectricity with no carbon emissions.
Taroona house embraces its environment by overcoming limiting conditions through holistic and industrious architecture. The result balances exposing the occupants to the rugged Tasmanian landscape with the comfort of an innovative and efficient shelter.
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Archier creates engaging architectural spaces and bespoke products, with an emphasis on honest, responsive design and efficient construction.
ARCHIER is an architectural practice with studios in Hobart and Melbourne. We work across residential and commercial sectors and have a particular interest in the relationship between architecture and landscape. We are a privately owned company and have four principals. One of our four directors is also Landscape Architect and this gives us a unique skill-set to work seamlessly across the two domains of Architecture and Landscape.
We work across a range of scales; for a range of clients. Our work encompasses residential, commercial and government architecture; public and private landscape projects; as well as the design and manufacture of furniture and lighting products
Our innovative designs are focused on material honesty, thermal performance and constructability, as we strive for affordable and responsive architecture that contributes to the public domain.
We are interested in projects that span architecture, urban design and landscape and embrace the mantra that design is delivery. Our practice utilises BIM extensively to automate and streamline our design work-flow and we are increasingly leveraging BIM to not only aid and support the delivery and construction of our work; we are also using it directly with Off Site Manufacturers to automate the production of timber based floor, wall and roof elements directly from the coordinated design model.
Our directors have over 25 years of combined industry experience and were drawn together to create an inclusive practice that is truly outcome orientated. We have won awards across a range of disciplines connected to the built environment that recognise our design excellence and innovation, along with our commitment to sustainable buildings and the environment.
As a practice, we have worked on large scale commercial projects with a construction value in excess of $100M through Joint Venture arrangements with Hayball Architects and we have lead multidisciplinary teams for complex commercial projects over $5M in value.
We relish the opportunity to work collaboratively with clients and large project teams to incorporate specialist knowledge and expertise into our work. We are data driven and focused on quality project outcomes. We have proven project experience leading complex projects in sensitive environments and have been recognised for our contextual approach to design.
We have also been awarded for our approach to sustainability and always seek not only to optimise the thermal performance of our buildings, but also to consider the life cycle cost of our material choices.
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