19
takes the glare and most of the heat out of the Australian
sun. It's also a very practical solution with these extremes
of climate where we nestle down in winter when it's quite
cold, and the Low-E is really good for that. On the
flip-side, in summer, when it's quite hot, the Low-E
reflects the heat away.
It’s a great system.
The Lauriston House really hugs the site at one end
and springs at the other.
That’s a dynamic quality I try to achieve. Not to be one
or the other but, in this case, both. It’s a similar principle
when we use solid and void, or solid and shade. There’s
a grounded quality with the house at the east and then
there’s this dynamic cantilever quality at the other end.
I guess, cantilevers have been around for a good
50 years or more, and this is continuing that lineage
of contemporary architecture, exploring what we can
do structurally, without it necessarily being simple
posts and beams.
What about the flexibility you demonstrate in most
of your designs where you walk through, slide doors
open, walls become windows. It gives the occupant
tremendous flexibility and options.
It’s like flying a kite, or steering a yacht through the ocean.
You adjust things in order to make the most of
the wind and the conditions. That’s very much the way
this house has been thought of too. There's the
opportunity to cross flow ventilate. There's a large body
of water on the side here, where on a hot day and a cool
breeze, you can draw it across the water and into the
house. I’ve noticed even the lawn sprinklers shoot
a cool body of air, which gets drawn into the house.
That flexibility of openings around the house enable
it to respond better to the environment.