Trade Craft

A sensitive configuration of materials brings a light touch to this house of concrete. In order to embrace the raw qualities of its untreated state, concrete was paired with hardwood and opened up to sky and garden in a home designed for a concreter, an artist, their child and two dogs.

The architects of Torquay Concrete House are Kate Fitzpatrick and Ben Stibbard, co-directors of Auhaus. Winning a commendation for this house at the 2016 Victorian Architecture Awards cemented their reputation for responsive homes on the Bellarine peninsula.

When the client approached with a slew of ideas, Auhaus suggested a fresh angle. “We said, ‘let’s pare it back and make it all about your trade, your craft’,” Ben explains. “There was a real opportunity there because of the client’s skill set.”

For the owner-builder, being a concrete business owner helped mitigate the expense; it was a great solution. The use of concrete also suited a site subject to brutal coastal weather conditions.

While there are sustainability issues with concrete, its positive attributes include strength and longevity, and no applied finish or maintenance is needed. However, the greatest benefit for the project was the high level of thermal mass, allowing the building to enjoy stable temperatures year round.

Located in the Torquay Sands estate, backing onto wetlands and a golf course, the 500-square-metre site is hemmed in by volume housing, and sits on a corner vulnerable to the glare of swinging headlights.

“Our clients didn’t want to feel like they were in suburbia. They wanted to feel as if they were down the coast with big sky and ocean. The challenge was to create an internalised environment where they didn’t feel the impact of neighbours, and could enjoy framed views of the landscape and wetlands beyond,” Kate says.

“It’s always a fine dance between opening up the house to views, creating a dialogue with the street and being part of the community without feeling like you’re on show,” Ben adds.

The right note was struck with an open carport at the front and an art studio above, both offering a subtle exchange between the public and private realms. One side of the carport is lined with battened screening, inviting glimpses into the entry courtyard and suggesting activity within. The art studio is sheathed in a translucent perspex wall.

“We wanted the effect of a lantern at night so you can see the silhouette of people behind,” Kate says. She describes the layout as a “procession of spaces”, from the portal in the front wall to a tiny verdant courtyard leading to the interior. The home opens into a double-height gallery wrapped around a grassy north-facing central courtyard. A broad entrance hall lined with massive timber-framed windows gathers the outside in, and a generous bench seat offers a moment for relaxation and interaction with those outside.

“The idea was to make a connection with outdoor spaces all through the house, with curated views framed by batten screens that can be opened and closed at will,” Kate says.

Even as you walk through the corridor, you can look up and see the sky upstairs. The main living area also views the central courtyard, and a little loft bedroom upstairs gazes into it, enjoying a private rooftop garden.

“The landscape has been key to making it work. Plants drape the edge of the concrete fascia so it feels lush and verdant in the main courtyard. The outside areas and rooftop garden are planted with local varieties, connecting the house to the dune landscape around the golf course. The house feels embedded in the site, despite the fact it really is in suburbia,” Kate says.

Beauty lies in fine details such as customised door handles, elegant shrouds spun for light fittings, brass accents making delicate wall patterns and exposed concrete drop beams that cross-hatch the ceilings. A staircase leading to sky, and made of folded steel plates with a long steel balustrade, is a sculptural element conveying lightness and mass. It weighs in at around 900 kilograms.

In keeping with Auhaus’s design ethos, principles of passive thermal regulation are integral to the design. Deep eaves, crossventilation and the concrete’s inherent thermal mass cool the house in summer. The roof garden creates a thermal blanket over the house, and an insulated hydronic infill slab reduces heat loss into the ground over winter. “They barely have to use heating and cooling,” Kate says.

A sustainable composite material was used in the cupboards, and a 10,000-litre subterranean rainwater tank under the main courtyard waters the gardens.

For Auhaus and their client, Torquay Concrete House was an exercise in how far you could push concrete in the making of a luxuriously pared back home embedded in nature.