Drawing and Rendering: Jilliby House

Jilliby House: Plan

Jilliby House: Section

Jilliby House: South Elevation

Jilliby House: West & East Elevation

Jilliby House: North Elevation

Drawing and Rendering: Jilliby House

Drawing and Rendering: Jilliby House

Jilliby House

Location:  Little Jilliby, NSW

Architect: Fergus Scott Architects

The architects' words:

Clients: The clients came to Australia from a rural background in the USA and raised three children in Sydney.The house at Jilliby is now their primary residence, The children stay at the house regularly as so friends and relatives from Australia and overseas.

Site: The site is an open field on a valley floor surrounded by wooden hillsides. At the south edge of the field is a natural watercourse that has been dammed to form a billabong. A stand of majestic eucalypts runs along the north side of the billlabong at the edge of which the house is sited.

Brief: The clients wanted to live in an Australian landscape in a very open fashion so they may experience its qualities whist maintaining a sense of protection.

Design and Siting: the house is a specific linear circulation reflects the client's previous pattern of use when they sited a caravan and used the northern edge of the treeline according to the time of day. The plan was intended to allow the inhabitants a close connection with both the billabong and the open field and views to the north. The building opens freely to the north. It also allows the inhabitants to move to spaces deeper within the protection of the tree canopy as the season dictates. An efficient and elemental structure embedded in the valley floor suggests both openness and protection.

Structure and Efficiency: The building comprises a series of precast column pairs of identical plan that support a suspended floor and rood frame. The intention was the embedded precast affords the sense of protection and permanence on the one hand but enables wide openings when required. The building is in a mine subsidence area so the structure has to be adjustable with no strip footings and minimal contact points with the ground. The precast columns were made in a local yard and were lowered into pad footings. Holes and ferrules in the columns allowed the structural framing to be fully bolted on site. Doors, glazing and stud wall infill were installed in subsequent layers., The assembly was quick with minimal site disturbance. Considering the house is a one-off architectural design it has been a cost-effective project. Site specific response a steep hillside protects the site from the south and it was decided that the length and narrowness of the plan could be efficient considering the due north orientation and extent of solar access. An awning (acting as a light shelf) and roof overhangs were dimensioned to work with summer and winter sun angles. Double-glazing was also used. The result is the client has found that on winter afternoons they can choose to open the house up to purge the house of heat. Due to this plan extensive cross-ventilation is readily available at all times. Primary heating is by means of a slow combustion wood-burning fireplace. Gas is available via LPG-bottles only.

(Architecture Gallery)