Oribin House + Studio Revisited
Key Facts
- Demonstrates the influence of international architectural trends and organic architecture in the tropics
- Ingenious tropical natural ventilation system
Project Data
Location: Whitfield, Cairns, QLD, Australia
Year Completed: Original home: 1958; Renovations: 2011
OVERVIEW
The Oribin House case study consists of old and new parts. The original Oribin House was built in 1958 in Whitfield, Cairns and the new additions were completed in 2011. The original Oribin House is important in demonstrating the influence of international architectural trends on Australian architects in the mid-20th century, in particular the concept of organic architecture promoted by Frank Lloyd Wright, and was strongly influenced by Lloyd Wright’s (1867-1959) Usonian houses. The new building additions have considered the need to express the original building in its context, and are respectful of the value of the original design.
The original house and subsequent studio additions are now listed as a Heritage Site with Cairns Regional Counci and the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Heritage Protection as an "…innovative modern design, adapted to its particular site and the climate of Cairns" (heritage-register.ehp.qld.gov.au/placeDetail.html?siteId=3074). In 2013, the original house and studio also achieved the Queensland Award for Enduring Architecture by the Australian Institute of Architects.
Of particular note in the design of the original dwelling is Oribin's design strategies for the tropical climate, including orientation of the building, reduced mass of building materials, forced air ventilation via passive design principles and construction techniques to correlate these criteria. Oribin’s most particular innovation is adapting these principles for application in the wet tropics. He also used a triangular planning grid, and highly-innovative construction techniques for the time to create a delightful spatial and decorative order.
PLANNING AND DESIGN
In the original house, each space has a direct relationship with the surrounding landscape and moves through the living space, the new additions are only glimpsed in the distance, allowing the current relationship between the living spaces and the external garden to prevail. The access to the additions is through the northern end of the covered terrace, an area previously enclosed by Oribin as a store room. The new family space is a circulation node connecting the bedrooms with the original terrace, providing access to the north and south gardens, yet remains a room for sitting and gathering as a family.
Edge Architecture was commissioned in 2009 to design the additional spaces. The additions utilise the sloping land to the north west of the site which allowed opportunity for a physical relationship with the recreational landscape area of the north, adjacent the pool, and to gain longer vistas to the south of the surrounding gardens and views back towards the original house.The additions pay respect to Oribin’s original intent by sliding off the original house at an angle, making use of geometric forms in plan and using timber finishes to complement the original.
The design proposal for the additions was to provide a building to accommodate three bedrooms, a bathroom, laundry and family room and to be connected via an enclosed space to the original residence. The new rooms create a courtyard to the northern part of the site and offer the new main bedroom a lush view of the rainforest gully. The original bedrooms are now reading, library, play and craft rooms.
The additions connect discretely with the 'Oribin' house, just touching the original fascia, allowing the original building to be observed in its entirety and the new additions to be viewed as a separate wing with complementary architecture.
SITE
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The original house has an uncommon lot orientation, with the long side of the site as the street frontage and the width of the block constrained by an existing creek on the western boundary. The site slopes away to the creek on the west.
MATERIALS
The palette of materials, building form and spatial grid display humble tribute to the 'Oribin' house, the whole sitting comfortably in its environs, and each offering reflection of their individual architectural qualities.
The floor of the original house is polished and tinted concrete, inlaid with timber strips following a large diamond pattern, which is the structural pattern for the plan of the house. In February 2014 the original house was featured in Architecture Media’s Houses Magazine. In this article Fantin states:
In renovating the original dwelling, the owners removed any light fittings, blinds and built-in joinery that were not part of the house, describing the process as being “a bit like an archaeological dig.” Through their attention to careful restoration and appreciation of beautiful 1950s design and art, the house has been returned to its original state and has experienced a cult-like design revival. What makes this house so memorable is its geometric rooms and patterns, exquisite detailing, beautiful use of materials and control of natural light, along with its handmade light fittings, fine tinted concrete and the lustre of the clear-stained silky oak timber throughout. The house is finely crafted but robust and well suited to life in the tropics. Natural light entering the house is controlled in a beautiful way. On the eastern side of the house a strip of light at eave level penetrates the house through handmade diffusers. The light to the west and south is mediated and filtered through pergolas, shutters and extremely wide eaves.
In terms of reducing demand on energy the home and studio are described by Fantin (2014) as follows:
The wall partitions that create the original children’s bedrooms are raised above the floor by 300 millimetres to enable natural ventilation and suction from the leeward side of the house to the windward. To maximize this effect, the long windward side of the house facing the street contains a low timber garden wall and flanking stone culvert along the length of the base of the house, where there is a screened gap at floor level. These features compress the fast-moving air along the side of the house. Air is literally sucked from the west an open side of the dwelling, through the house and out of the floor-level opening on the street side: an ingenious tropical ventilation system that reduces the need for active cooling.
OWNERS/USERS STATEMENT
In Fantin’s (2014) review of the dwelling she states:
My experience of this house relates to texture, light and shade, and finely crafted elements. The patina of the surfaces, the timber, the concrete and the diffused light all create a refuge from the harshness of a tropical summer. The variety of interior spaces is exciting and captures your interest for a long time – every room and every aspect gives you a new experience. The house offers great textural and spatial variety, and that is what makes it amazing.
PROJECT TEAM
Original House 1958
Architect/Designer: Edwin Oribin
Builder: Les Tinsley and Co.
New Additions 2011
Base building architect/ designer: Edgearchitecture
Structural engineer: Heath Rodgers, Colefax Rodgers Consulting Engineers
Builder: Roger Pearce, Macpark Building Co
Photographs courtesy of Peter Bennetts
