Challenges into Triumphs
Look Home Issue 5, 01/05/2008
Building On Steep Slopes
Challenge: Designing a house on a site with a 10 metre drop.
Triumph: A stunning home that works perfectly with the slope of the land.
How to make it happen:
Some builders and designers avoid working on sloping sites. Others simply chop the site up until there is a flat area on which to build, thus disturbing much of the earth and losing much of the natural environment. Instead of these approaches, Frank Newnham Contructions and architectural firm ML Design took a different tack when they had to design a home at Queensland’s Brookwater golfing estate. It was on a steep slope with a full 10 metre drop from the front to the back of the home.
Instead of flattening the earth, the house was built by incorporating the slope into its design. This was done while ensuring living and bedroom spaces were oriented towards the outstanding view, which takes in one of the fairways, densely wooded valleys and abundant wildlife.
To create the raised ceilings and the home’s upper level on such a challenging site, Newnham chose to use lightweight materials like Scyon™ Linea™ weatherboard and HardiTex® system. In particular, Newnham avoided the extra cost and time that would otherwise have been incurred if masonry was used. This would also have required digging deeper foundations on this site. The products also allowed the home to have a larger internal space, giving the owners more room to move inside the home.
ML Design’s project leader Joakim Willemsen says that the steep slope of the site also presented opportunities to incorporate generous ceiling heights and extensive glazing as distinguishing features throughout the home. “An advantage of steep sites is that we are able to design more substantial floor-to-floor heights, which translates to improved ceiling heights and more opportunities for volumetric interplay, because you’re chasing yourself down the hill,” says Willemsen
This stunning Queenslander, featuring Scyon™ Linea™ weatherboard, was built using the slope of the land.
Look Home Magazine
Publisher: James Hardie Australia Pty Ltd
Editor: Valerie Khoo / Spindrift Media
To get a free copy of the magazine, please visit http://www.lookhome.com.au/.
Challenge: Designing a house on a site with a 10 metre drop.
Triumph: A stunning home that works perfectly with the slope of the land.
How to make it happen:
Some builders and designers avoid working on sloping sites. Others simply chop the site up until there is a flat area on which to build, thus disturbing much of the earth and losing much of the natural environment. Instead of these approaches, Frank Newnham Contructions and architectural firm ML Design took a different tack when they had to design a home at Queensland’s Brookwater golfing estate. It was on a steep slope with a full 10 metre drop from the front to the back of the home.
Instead of flattening the earth, the house was built by incorporating the slope into its design. This was done while ensuring living and bedroom spaces were oriented towards the outstanding view, which takes in one of the fairways, densely wooded valleys and abundant wildlife.
To create the raised ceilings and the home’s upper level on such a challenging site, Newnham chose to use lightweight materials like Scyon™ Linea™ weatherboard and HardiTex® system. In particular, Newnham avoided the extra cost and time that would otherwise have been incurred if masonry was used. This would also have required digging deeper foundations on this site. The products also allowed the home to have a larger internal space, giving the owners more room to move inside the home.
ML Design’s project leader Joakim Willemsen says that the steep slope of the site also presented opportunities to incorporate generous ceiling heights and extensive glazing as distinguishing features throughout the home. “An advantage of steep sites is that we are able to design more substantial floor-to-floor heights, which translates to improved ceiling heights and more opportunities for volumetric interplay, because you’re chasing yourself down the hill,” says Willemsen
This stunning Queenslander, featuring Scyon™ Linea™ weatherboard, was built using the slope of the land.
Look Home Magazine
Publisher: James Hardie Australia Pty Ltd
Editor: Valerie Khoo / Spindrift Media
To get a free copy of the magazine, please visit http://www.lookhome.com.au/.
