H1 House
Wooloowin
H1 House seeks to breakdown the confines of a tight inner city block in Wooloowin, Brisbane by promoting the concept of shared green space – the interrelation of and visual relationship between the houses’ living spaces, and the adjacent green space of neighbouring blocks.
The approved development application for this project includes the development of the adjacent block as part of a dual site approach whereby the proposed neighbouring house implements and reinforces these ideas. The proposed second house is almost a mirror image of the H1 house, whereby a shared green space evolves between the two dwellings.
The house was conceived as a long, low pavilion hovering above the ground plane, stretching from the street front to the rear boundary. Inverting a typical Queenslander arrangement, the house draws its circulation to the perimeter and unravels living spaces across the length of the site in a slender planning arrangement that promotes cross ventilation and day-lighting.
The design strategy inverts the usual approach to dealing with visual relationships between the internal spaces of a dwelling and public and private open spaces that lay beyond and within the site boundaries.
Sustainability
By designing for comfortable living, a house, by necessity, becomes one that is climate responsive. Expansive glazing and openings to the southern façade allows not only optimal day-lighting, ventilation and outlook but further creates a strong visual relationship between the street and the living and circulation spaces of the dwelling. There is a large external curtain to the front deck to control the level of engagement and privacy to the street.
Photography: Jon Linkins