Steep east facing land on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia, the site was difficult to access and prone to slip. Peter Stutchbury Architecture saw the project as an opportunity to produce a low cost building that would satisfy the client’s faith in a work of architecture being an educative tool.

 

Their approach was to initiate a prefabricated building using steel as the primary structure. Extreme care then selected sympathetic primary and secondary components. The set of parts took two days to assemble with a unification of finishes that sat wholly within the discipline of the frame. North and south were treated with obvious function, industrial (thus economical) fixtures and fittings were employed throughout and finishes were direct and low cost.

 

A skillion roof connected the building with site and highlight glazing gave the roof a lightness that sits at ease with the surrounding canopy. The entry space is deliberately grand and communicates both the site beyond (context) and the life within.

 

 

Location of the office at the entry restricts business to the edge of the home. The main space is designed, using standardized components, to flow to open views rather than adjacent neighbours. The scale of this primary space plays a significant role in the architecture. Downstairs, bedrooms and bathrooms are quietened by major shifts in scale and reductions in light. The outcome is a palate of varied experiences using a minimum of architectural tools.

 

The difficulty of the site and associated costs would suggest a high cost building. As the project budget indicates, the built outcome is extremely economical and has provided a reference for ongoing prefabrication work.

The opportunity to produce low cost architecture is discussed as an ideal but rarely engaged as it requires an appropriate project and a willingness to invent and refine based upon cost. Peter Stutchbury Architecture’s initial product was almost double the cost of the house produced. The process of cost cutting was educated and drove us to further research materials, precise floor space, repetition, tradition and systems.

With this in mind, they adjusted the building’s built order to accommodate site. It was this adjustment that gave the building unique personalised qualities, and the discipline of prefabricated order that produced a style of architecture.

“It is our ambition as an office to produce a wide range of work to embrace a wide range of clients and budgets, this way architecture becomes inclusive.”