Cabin Drawings

The iCabin 2.0 Experience

Your approach to the cabin is drawn out by the deep placement of the building within the site. The white rendered walls extend high into the sky, with a seemingly flat roof. Behind and above the most frontal facade you spot a solitary room hovering above the house. You wonder what this is, and you naturally seek more information about the phenomenon.

You finally arrive at the front door, then swiftly enter, you gain a glimpse of the living area at the end of the path that lies in front of you, but still no sight of the hovering room. This view and sense of intrigue instantly magnetises you to the area at the end of the path and you begin to walk.

To your right is open to the environment, with lush green grass coming all the way up to the edge of the path. To you left is an uninterrupted white rendered wall. This promotes you to continue moving forward.

As you reach the end of the path the area explodes in every direction to a great open space. The entire space feels like it is outdoors, with as little as a few walls to hold the roof up.

To your right is the kitchen and too your left is the bedroom. But there is still no sight of the unexplained floating room.

You decide to take a seat in the outdoors living area. You face the grassed area to the north east, while examining the area. The grass area is sectioned of from the rest of the yard with a portion of a wall. This creates a sense of privacy and you feel, despite the extreme openness of the building still very comfortable and private.

Suddenly a door opens to your left and a large muscular figure comes out, "its Cameron Minns" you think to yourself. He then says"Follow me" in an extremely deep voice. Unsure where he is taking you, you follow blindly. You exit out the door, climb a set of steps and enter an office or studio of some sort. Once inside, you immediately realise where you are. You are now inside the floating room, and there is a view of everything below, you try to stop for a moment to take this in. But he further ushers you out the door on the other side of the room to a private deck. Here you sit down and discuss manly things, which men discuss, in a very manly manner.

Well done, you have completed the iCabin 2.0 Experience.

Cabin Analysis

A HOUSE IS A DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE

• Outdoors living, while feeling apart of the indoors

In a similar manner to the exemplar the cabin uses a open air room, which lets in the natural climate. Which is a wonderful experience.

• Contrast in materials to the landscape

The stark contrast of the building form to the natural landscape, is visually pleasing. The white render, against the lush green environment stands out and captures the eye.

• Simple elegant design, with modernist properties

The cabin uses a very fine finish to the edges of facades, because it is important for the simple geometry to crafted well so it doesn't look tacky.

A HOUSE IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL FILTER

• Seamless transition from inside to outside

The flooring material is an integral part of making sure this phenomenon is experienced. The same tiled floors will be used from the entrance path through the kitchen and out into the backyard room.

• The relationship of walled landscaped to interior space planning

The insertion of a small piece of wall sectioning off a part of the backyard privatises the yard area. Thus including it almost as interior space, this space now opens up the interior without opening up the privacy.

• Large glass wall dividing one space into an indoors living area and outdoors room

When the climate doesn't allow the house to be opened right up there are large glass walls which can be closed. These glass walls were used because the still offer a visual connection to the outside area, seemingly making the room bigger.

A HOUSE IS A CONTAINER OF HUMAN ACTIVITY

• Tight spaced entrance between private areas, then opening up into a large public area

The tight build up to the major open living space creates a capture and release effect. This exposes a wide open space all at once, creating an exciting area.

• Open air rooms

This feature simply allows completely natural ventilation through the room, creating an environment pleasant to be in.

• Garden walls, creating private yard space

The small section of wall place between two parts of the building forces the inhabitant to feel like they are in a private space, because naturally the human makes up the negative space left out by the gaps in the wall, giving the feeling of enclosure and privacy.

Design Concepts

THE PROCESS TO THE DESIGN

• These are the sketch elevations of the final design proposal.

• I then really tried to capture the true essence of the Newmarket House, and came up with the design I eventually developed as my final proposal.

• I also drew elevations of some of these plans to gain a better understanding of them.

• I found this process slightly unfruitful and decided to physically cut out some shapes arrange then in different arrangements then trace over them. This was much more successful, because it was more accurate and very close to being in scale. But I became caught up in making a house and not concentrating on the defining features of my exemplar house.

• From there, I started drawing some plans arranging the approximate sizes of the room i had identified as being needed.

• I began with my concepts by just redrawing some of the key elements of the Newmarket house, to get an idea within my head of the architecture. This process sparked ideas, and helped my come up with some rough concepts.

Planning

SPACIAL AND RELATIONAL PLANNING


The Newmarket house was designed originally as a cottage then an extension was added to it. The extension was completely an open plan living and dining area, because the existing cottage would be used for bedrooms, and more private areas.

I used this concept in my design by identifying that the dining, kitchen and living needed to be grouped, and the other rooms could be put to the side(so to speak).

After working on this, I began on some concepts.

Site

Exemplar Drawings

Newmarket House, Owen and Vokes

Exemplar 1
Newmarket House
Owen and Vokes

The newmarket house house was relatively unknown until an extension designed by Owen adn Vokes Architects, was added to the rear of the original cottage. The extension was aimed to increase the tiny floor area, which was inadequate for the living requirements of the family. Also to increase the ventilation and light entering the building. (Wallace & Stutchbury, 2008, p. 227)

I have listed three key aspects, with a short description under each heading re-enforcing the architectural merits of the Newmarket House.

A HOUSE IS A DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE

• Outdoors living, while feeling apart of the indoors

The addition of the garden room to the back of the cottage allows the inhabitant to visually connect to the interior of the house, through the use of material same materials for inside and outside areas. But also allows the multi sensory aspects of the outdoors to really create a different environment. Outdoors smells and temperatures, the wind, and sounds of neibours and wildlife connects the inhabitant to the outdoors.

• Contrast in materials to the landscape
• and
• Simple elegant design, with modernist properties

The architects used very finely crafted architecture with a modernist feel (Owen and Vokes Pty Ltd). The use of white render over the expanse of the building allows for a very definate contrast compared to the lusious green backyard filled with trees and manicured lawn.

A HOUSE IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL FILTER

• Seamless transition from inside to outside

The creation of outdoors living areas, which seemingly create internal space is a particular theory Owen and Vokes have been experimenting with. There concerns are largely "prioritising the threshold or edge of a building instead of concentrating on maximising internal space" (The Architectural Review, 2009)

• The relationship of walled landscaped to interior space planning

This was one of the key ideas behind the design of the newmarket house. The architects explain that the concepts of interior space is generated by a larger landscape solution, and the relationships walled landscaped have with interior planning.

• Large glass wall dividing one space into an indoors living area and outdoors room

The inclusion of a large glass wall between the garden room and the interior living space creates an even deeper connection to the outdoors. It has the ability to be opened right up, transforming the interior living space into a covered extension of the outdoors.

A HOUSE IS A CONTAINER OF HUMAN ACTIVITY

• Tight spaced entrance between private areas, then opening up into a large public area

The addition to the back of the newmarket house was added without very many changes to the original cottage, therfore apon entering the house you progress through the tight cottage into the open new addition. In an analysis of Newmarket House, Antony Moulis and Sheona Thomson describe this experience as "once through the flesh of the existing house, the hyper-real spacial and material purity of the extension is experienced" (Moulis & Thomson, 2005)

• Open air rooms
• and
• Garden walls, creating private yard space

With an open air room facing one way and a portion of a wall (garden wall) enclosing an area of landscape in the direction of the open air room, the landscape and room feel as if they are one. This connection of space is desirable in a hot climate and give the inhabitant all the freshness of the outside environment.

References

Wallace, M., Stutchbury, S. (Ed.) (2008). PLACE MAKERS: Contemporary Queensland Architects. Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery.

Owen and Vokes Pty Ltd. (2009). Newmarket House by Owen and Vokes Pty Ltd. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.architecture.com.au/awards_search?option=showaward&entryno=20054075

Moulis, A., Thomson, S. (2005). The New Backyard. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.archmedia.com.au/aa/aaissue.php?issueid=200509&article=12&typeon=2#jumptoitem2005091202

The Architectural Review. (2009). Young Practice Owen and Vokes Deals with the Relationship Between Inside and Out by Creating Bold Garden Rooms. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms_file?page=12336/ARSept09OwenAndVokes.pdf