Final+Project


 * The Price O'Reilly House, Sydney, Australia.**

The Price O’Reilly House was designed by the architect Engelen Moore. It was constructed in 1995 in Sidney, Australia. This project was originally designed for a photographer, and because of this, the house had to have a studio, and serve as a residence as well. The house turned out to be very minimalist due to the tight budget of the costumer. It is a two story house located on a vacant block of land, between two other residences. This is a residential and commercial area, in Australia. The house, even though it is very modern compared to its neighbor buildings, it fits in perfectly with its context. This was the main challenge for the architect; he had to create a house to fit to a residential and commercial surrounding, but also had to make sure that it served as a home and a photography studio for the owner. The house is a 6 by 7 meter square volume. It is basically divided into two vertical parts when you look at the front façade, and there is a horizontal beam that aligns perfectly with the inner terrace. Because it is located in between two other buildings, the side façades are two straight walls. Due to its placement, the house is void of shadows almost all day. The back façade faces to the west, and it is a glass wall that allows a view of the entire internal volume. This glass is made up of 6 individual panels that are 6 meters tall, which slide and stack to one side allowing the entire rear side of the house to be opened up. This gives the inside space the feeling of openness and allows it to relate to the courtyard. This huge glass wall also permits the house to adapt to weather changes. In the summer it ventilates the house, allowing cooling, and in the winter it lets the sun come in and warm the house. In the inside, it is divided into two levels. The first level contains the kitchen, the living room, the studio and the courtyard. When you first walk in, you pass the entrance to the studio, which is an enclosed space. This space is where the photographer can work comfortably and develop pictures if he needs to do so. When you exit the studio you walk into the largest space of the house. This is the living room, which is a double-height space. The living room contains the kitchen, and because the west façade is all glass, it feels like a never-ending space. There are no divisions that block your view from the kitchen to the courtyard. Outside, this courtyard contains a small pool, and beyond that, a small wall that borders the back of the house. This is the only visual boundary on the ground floor. Once you climb the stairs to the second level, you find the bedroom and the bathroom. The bedroom is an open room (meaning that there is no wall that divides the bedroom space from the terrace) because it is part of the terrace itself. On the other hand, the bathroom is a room surrounded by four walls, but it doesn’t feel like a small space due to the effect of the mirrors. All the spaces in the house adapt to the needs of the photographer, but they also relate to each other. The materials they used also fit the concept of the house. For this, two different types of concrete were used so that it could fit in with the residential and commercial context, but also be modern. Inexpensive concrete masonry units form the two exterior side walls. This material provides the required fire separation with the neighboring properties as well as needed acoustic control. The second material is thick fiber cement sheets, a product that combines the compressive strength of concrete with the tensile strength of lightweight glass fibers. It can be easily cut, screwed, nailed and sanded with common tools and conventional construction methods. The frame of the house is made out of steel because it is stronger than any other material in tension and compression. For the inside of the house, drywall was used. Theses panels are made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper. It is used to make interior walls and ceilings. The drywall process requires less labor and drying time than regular plaster-based interior finish techniques, and that is why it is favored and used in many modern projects such as this house. These materials together produce a minimalist expression. Overall, the house plays with the light, the white color, mirrors, the air, glass and its other materials to make the spaces in it feel larger and lighter, but it also adapts to all the needs of the photographer, as I mentioned before. The concept of the house, which consists in creating a habitable place that fits the needs of the customer, but also, a minimalist space that feels modern and infinite, is thoroughly and clearly expressed in this house.

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