Country: Australia
When approached to design a small house overlooking a picturesque creek on a hobby farm, Max Pritchard’s clients never imagined that he would perch them above the winter waterway.
Approaching retirement, the clients decided to build a house on their 20 hectare hobby farm, a property which had been in the family for 20 years. Their rural idyll provided a picturesque setting with three undulating paddocks and creek banks dotted with River Red Gums and prickly Kangaroo Wattle bushes.
After the initial meeting, Pritchard put forward an outlandish suggestion to get a north facing aspect – a steel structure suspended above the winter creek. The radical proposal aimed to circumvent several problems associated with the site.
“There is a requirement that you have to build 25 metres from a water course and I felt that a house in that position would be too remote, but I thought if we were able to overcome those obstacles we could get a good result,” Pritchard said.
It took roughly one year to achieve the go-ahead from council, but Pritchard remained convinced that his design could be built cost-effectively and without damaging the unique site.
Once planning permission had been secured, the construction was relatively straightforward even though it was a challenging site. The simplicity of the structure and the ease of its assembly using steel components made construction relatively easy.
The fabricator manufactured the steel frame in large sections in the workshop which were then transported to the site by truck. The steel frame was then craned into place within a couple of days and it took only a few days to erect.
The use of a steel frame ensured that there was no damage to the site due to there being only minimal contact and the reduced need to cut and fill the area.
“For a building to only touch the ground at four points with four relatively small concrete pads that are bedded onto rock, it’s a very minimal intrusion on the contours of the site,” Pritchard added.
Once the steel frame was in place, the rest of the house could be sealed up by one tradesman. The roofer was able to clad the whole building in a short time which made it easier on the clients.
The home’s cladding is made from COLORBOND® steel in the profile Fielders Kingklip 700® and roofing made from COLORBOND® steel in the profile Fielders Spanform 700®, both in the colour Windspray®.
“We had a relatively low pitch on the roof, and the Kingklip® offers economy and a pleasing aesthetic for the box within the steel frame,” Pritchard said. “We also wanted it to be non-flammable, and I like the patterns of light and shade that you create by using a profiled steel sheet. I also like the fact that it relates to traditional rural building forms.”
