Mosman Park House by Paul Burnham
Architect Paul Burnham has designed the Mosman Park house in Perth, Western Australia.
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Description from the architect:
The Mosman Park House is located on an elevated site overlooking the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia.
The house is in two simple parts – a long shed with a transverse fully openable wing.
The north elevation of the shed element is fully glazed and protected with remotely operated louvres to control privacy and allow for complete summer sun exclusion and full winter sun penetration.The transverse wing is set back from the front of the property to create privacy from the street while maintaining unobstructed river views.
The shed is a steel framed structure with marine quality Teak cladding. Internally a second central Teak box contains all service areas.
Notwithstanding the large glazed openings, the house is private, shaded in summer, sun soaked in winter and largely openable to take advantage of the Australian climate and the outstanding river views.
Visit Paul Burnham’s website – here.
Photography by Jody D’Arcy and P.A.I.D. Photography
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richard gibbs on 09 Dec 2011 at 2:39 am #
For modern Australian architecture it’s a bit ‘safe’ as a design,particularly in an Urban setting.
Not sure about the brickwork as an internal feature.
Peter van der Veer on 09 Dec 2011 at 5:22 am #
Veneer-brick as opposed to common brick-veneer seems to have been applied here for a logical reason as opposed to being purely a feature as Richard has stated.
To reverse the common Australian practice of a brick veneer walled outside a timber frame is well known thermal common sense. The extensive use of louvres is another symptom of this team’s attempts towards a more “green” building.
Unfortunately, despite this, the project cannot be viewed as architecture at all. Like much of Australia’s built environment, it’s just a bricklaying, carpentry, glazing and plumbing conglomeration: building.
Justin Sculthorpe on 09 Dec 2011 at 7:39 pm #
I respectfully disagree with the two previous comments.
Is it safe? Yes, but in this instance, being safe is being progressive. Take a look at the context (intersection of colonial gardens and John Lewis Rise, Perth, Australia).
The building is clear in its site strategy. The louvers aren’t greenwashing; they face north (southern hemisphere sun) and protect against summer sun angles and allow winter angles in. The northern wing footprint is also very slim to allow for good direct and ambient day lighting scenarios. It’s perhaps not in the most ideal orientation, but site constraints/street frontage dictate the design to a degree. Also, the “L Shape” configuration with respect to the corner lot (although aerial imagery shows some type of garage structure(?) that creates a “C”) allows a private back yard that is cozy in scale, and opens up to many parts of the design.
I applaud the straight-forward thinking in the design. Let’s not be fooled; this is a house for a millionaire, but it lacks a level of hubris that I see in many of the other projects on this site.
David on 09 Dec 2011 at 9:01 pm #
Perth’s a dull city in general, like this house.
Modernman on 10 Dec 2011 at 3:10 pm #
Oh please…it’s far from being ‘dull’. BTW, Love the choice of locusts for the courtyard.
Peter van der Veer on 10 Dec 2011 at 4:22 pm #
Response to Justin – yes, as stated above, I’m aware the louvres are there for thermal reasons – to prevent direct excessive sunlight. I live in Australia too and have spent a lifetime here teaching prospective home owners and designers about their individual climatic pockets and how best to design for them.
Here, the picture is too small a fragment to be comprehensive, but I did praise two positive attempts in a naive construction – but look – the windows stand in total defiance against the climatic factors, thermals and working of those two elements that have been employed.
The whole design is likewise insensitive throughout with proportions and materials. If we were able to present a number of models of thermal options factored in with design alternatives here for comparison, this effort would then be able to be seen in context – that its aesthetics are not of sufficient standard to be posted here or even be discussed.