Australian architect and sailor, Chris Clarke has a fascination with steel that stems from both his love of boats and crisp clean designs.

Clarke's desire to design with steel was initially inspired by the innovative and stylish architecture of John Winter and Mies Van Der Rohe both of whom he praises as gurus of 20^th Century architecture and key participants in the High-Tech Movement of the 1950s and 60s.

However, with a passion for sailing, Clarke is renowned for transferring the technologies of the marine industry to architecture by using materials such as yacht wires in steel homes. "I love the paring back of material, which bestows a minimalist effect as is seen in yacht building. I am also inspired by the masts and stainless steel rigging seen on boats," he said.

Australian-trained Clarke said his life in steel really began when he moved to the UK to join John Winter's design team. "It was a combination of Winter's designs and wanting to move away from buildings made of dirty materials, such as bricks and mortar, that led me to London," said Clarke.

During his 15 years in London, Clarke worked on a diverse spectrum of buildings, and with architects, that featured the use of steel. Eventually, his desire to work on an iconic building led him to Sir Norman Foster's office, where he contributed to the designs of the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank building in Hong Kong and Stansted Airport in London.

Clarke's T2 (formerly Ansett Airlines) airport terminal in Sydney, Australia

Clarke's experience on London's Stansted Airport was used to design the expansion of the Brisbane International Airport (pictured).

After fifteen years in London, working side by side with some of the world's leading architects, Clarke moved back to Australia with a wealth of knowledge and experience in designing and building with steel. Upon his return in the 1980s, Clarke became a major contributor to the Expo 88 project, which required him to design 50,000 m² of pavilions, a monorail station and numerous entertainment venues. His experience on Stansted Airport has been used on the expansion of the Brisbane International Airport and the T2 (formerly Ansett Airlines) airport terminal in Sydney, Australia. He said a career highlight since moving home was the collaborative experience of working hand-in-hand with an engineer to design the roof and major steel components of the Sydney Olympic Games Stadium.

Clarke House, the architect's first steel home .

Clarke has fashioned his own homes of steel. The light-weight, pre-fabricated benefits of steel housing solutions meant he was able to build his in just three months.

He says that is what he loves about steel. "Steel is so easy to manipulate. Steel buildings can be pre-fabricated, pre-painted and erected quickly and easily on site.

"Furthermore, there is no need to wrap the building during construction as you would with the more pollutive materials of bricks and mortar, which is fantastic", he said.

Clarke said the main virtue of steel is its strength, which he said meant that little of the material was required to create lightweight steel walls, ceilings and cladding for residential projects.

"In my second home I used pre-galvanised 3mm light-weight steel walls, which were put together on site by a carpenter. It is such a malleable material and allows for pre-fabricated solutions to be produced extremely precisely that can quite easily be put together on site.

"Further to this, steel is not susceptible to warping or white ants so it is very low maintenance," he said.

Because acoustics are important in housing, Clarke likes to use perforated Mini Orb as an acoustic absorber, which can be ordered pre-finished.

Clarke realises insulation solutions for steel buildings in hot climates by designing generous rooves to create sun-shading.

Visit the architect's website