Eleven homes in the Sunshine State were short-listed for the 2018 Houses Awards — and in a nod to the record surge in renovations, seven of the houses were upgrades.
Juror Stuart Vokes, director of Vokes and Peters Queensland which won the coveted Australian House of the Year last year, was blown away by the calibre of designs coming out of Queensland.
The work was so good that two homes were nominated for double awards: Avonlea by Robinson Architects in Eumundi and Crescent House in Brisbane’s Seven Hills byDeicke Richards with Steven Clegg Design.
Architect Jolyon Robinson, whose design for Avonlea saw it short-listed for the new house over 200sq m award as well as the sustainability gong, said the project was bittersweet for him as the property was on the site of his childhood home.
“That house was probably the most special to me because our family home used to be on that site when we were kids,” he told The Sunday Mail.
“The old Queenslander burnt down nine years ago and I was commissioned by the new owners to design them a new family home.
“It was a labour of love. I obviously knew the site but hadn’t been there for 20 years.
“The old Queenslander was beautiful but hot in summer and cold in winter. Having a blank canvas and the ability to get all the fundamentals right like orientation and windows was so great.”
Of the seven Queensland renovations that made the national cut, four were for alteration and addition over 200sq m, including Seven Hills property Crescent House by Deicke Richards and Steven Clegg Design. The home was also short-listed in the garden or landscape category nationally.
It will face stiff competition from fellow Queenslanders, with an Auchenflower project called Bungalow Garden Rooms by Myers Ellyett with Dan Young Landscape Architectalso up for thelandscape award nationally, and three others also up for the “over 200sq m” renovation prize.
A Paddington home called B & B Residence designed by Hogg & Lamb tackled turned an existing inner-city Queenslander cottage on a steep site into a reinvigorated private, functional space. “Views are edited while portions of the sky, trees and mountains are carefully framed through a series of openings, peepholes and voids,” was how Hogg & Lamb described it.
A Morningside home in the same category, designed by Kieron Gait Architects took the approach of adding to the highset 1920s house by connecting it back to its garden via a pavilion. The original Queenslander was now a “retreat” containing the bedrooms and a TV and craft room while the new “garden pavilion” houses the kitchen, dining room and living areas. “Connected by a covered, but open deck and link, it encourages breezes through the site and allows the family to feel like they are within thegarden domain.”
The fourth house to make the cut for its “over 200sq m” renovation work was Yeronga House by Tim Bennetton Architects in Brisbane. The low key Queenslander was transformed with a new pod or studio created to the rear of the house, separated by a walkway and series of decks going to the garden. They even raised the level of the garden to avoid the use of all balustrades.
Smaller renovations under 200sq m out of Queensland also caught the judges’ eyes, three of which were now in the shortlist for nationals including Terrarium House in Highgate Hill by John Ellway, where a 100-year-old cottage was jettisoned into the 21st century with a sympathetic upgrade that involved inhabiting the undercroft. ”The house began as an exercise in pragmatics,” was how the firm described the challenge.
Also in the category was JB House in Capalaba by Reddog Architects which looked at reutilising the existing home and reconfiguring it for passive environmental control, taking a “simple approach” that revealed “points of intersection between new and old and use ordinary materials to create extraordinary spaces”.
“This extension to a single storey, brick veneer home in Brisbane’s east is an example of a new wave of alterations and additions projects in the city’s suburbs,” the firm said in its statement on the project.
Monash Road House in Tarragindi by the firm Zuzana and Nicholas made it a triple out of Brisbane for the smaller renovation category, using a strategy of “minimal intervention”.
Zuzana Kovar, who runs the small firm with business partner Nicholas Skepper, was thrilled that the awards allowed for smaller projects as well.
“For us a lot of the times it’s about trying to do the most affordable thing possible,” she said. “With the Monash House it was very much about renovating everything in place rather than trying to shift services, that’s costly when you pick services up and move them around. We used opportunities to cut a hole in the wall for example rather than remove it all.”
Two new houses over 200sq m made the shortlist too — one out of Ashgrove called Glenlyon Estate by Push Architecture and Louise Walsh Interior Design and the other a glass pavilion wrapped in timber sliding screens titled Tinbeerwah House by Teeland Architects in the Noosa Hinterland.
The idea was to open the Noosa home “to the bush, ocean, stars and sky”, with hardwood screens allowing the owners to control light, breezes, privacy and views.
“The long thin plan ensures the building is only one room deep to maximise, ocean views, cross ventilation and natural light. The house layout allows the family to come together to cook, eat and relax, but also the separation of more quiet spaces for reflective time.”
The 2018 Houses Award is in its eighth year and saw the highest number of entries ever, with 477 submissions, up 7 per cent on 2017.
Houses magazine editor and 2018 juror, Katelin Butler, said it was “great to see our talented architects and designers experimenting and challenging the status quo, resulting in a series of surprising and delightful architectural moments.” The winners will be announced on July 27.
QUEENSLAND HOMES IN 2018 HOUSES AWARD SHORTLIST:
Avonlea (New House over 200m2 and Sustainability)
B & B Residence (House Alteration & Addition over 200m2)
Bungalow Garden Rooms (Garden or Landscape)
Crescent House (Garden or Landscape and House Alteration & Addition over 200m2)
Glenlyon Estate (New House over 200m2)
JB House (House Alteration & Addition under 200m2)
Monash Road House (House Alteration & Addition under 200m2)
Morningside Residence (House Alteration & Addition over 200m2 )
Terrarium House (House Alteration & Addition under 200m2)
Tinbeerwah House (New House over 200m2)
Yeronga House (House Alteration & Addition over 200m2)