The circulation zone is defined by a flat plywood ceiling 2.1m high set to the lower chords of trusses. This ceiling is also the floor of an attic store made in the depth of the trusses; it runs the full length of the house and is accessible from all zones in the habitable areas, where ceilings are raked to the top chord of the trusses.
The lateral subdivisions are based on centralising the kitchen and bathroom in a wet area zone and incorporating dining and family activities. This zone is flanked by zones for sleeping or other functions that are adaptable and interchangeable as the family changes {children, teenagers, elderly), or even to suit seasonal change (summer to winter).
This simple ordering of the plan allows flexibility depending on client requirements and the nature and orientation of the site. An adaptable ordering of program areas and the correct orientation of living spaces are some of the more useful contributions an architect can make in South-East Queensland.
The simple cross zoning of the plan easily adapts to a post-and-beam grid of 4.5 x 2.7m. which offers alternative infill options of either a single skin of 80 x30mm tongue-and-groove hardwood boards (in the Redbank Plains house} or factory-made 900 x 30mm composite panels of fibre-cement sheets on a polystyrene core (as in the Rosalie house, since demolished).
The preferred northern orientation for the living zone and southern orientation for the circulation zone resulted in optional wall infill of standard, off the peg aluminium sliding glass panels to the outdoor patio; and where not a solid wall. i-3m-wide pivot doors manufactured from the same material as the walls to the south.
The planning strategy was to convert the i.8m-wide circulation zone into a useable play space for children in wet weather and allow direct connection with an outdoor play area during fine weather. Children's bedrooms are formed by modular furniture elements of wardrobe units (900 x 1400 x 600mm deep), drawer units (900 x 900 x 600mm deep) and shelf units (900 x 900 x 300mm deep) that stack to form walls or are dismantled to create a single large area.
Rooms are closed with sliding plywood doors set up to the attic store ceiling. This provides optional arrangements to either side of the wet zones to create areas that can be modified as family dynamics change over time, from accommodating small children, teenagers or resident elderly parents.
Project intentions
This house was the first essay in designing a post-and-beam system in pairs of then-cheap hardwood components made into composite members to compensate for the warping and twisting tendency inherent in the material. The composite components are set to provide 30mm cavities into which the wall component is housed. These cavities also provide paths for power and lighting conduits.
The other central idea of the design was that through working with the same builder from one house to the next, with details remaining more or less the same, there was a possibility of achieving consistency in costing, economic certainty and an opportunity for some prefabricate n. This would provide a cost-effective production - with the architect spending minimum time in the custom detailing of every house - to reduce the capital costs of the building.
Three of these houses were designed around the same time (early 1970s) and two were built: Redbank Plains and Rosalie.
RUMAH MINIMALIS