Houzz Tour: Torquay House Exhibits the Fine Art of Concrete
This house celebrates its owners' vastly different vocations and provides a sanctuary for young family life
Rebecca Gross
7 November 2018
Design writer and historian. I write about contemporary architecture and design, and I study cultural history through the lens of architecture, design and visual culture. I have a Masters in the History of Decorative Arts and Design from Parsons The New School for Design, New York. My latest book is called "Ornament is not a crime: Contemporary Interiors with a postmodern twist."
Design writer and historian. I write about contemporary architecture and design,... More
Damian and Prue Oliveri are respectively a concreter and an artist, and their family home in Torquay, Victoria, celebrates and expresses both their vocations. “This is a house of concrete and a gallery for artwork,” says Kate Fitzpatrick of Auhaus Architecture. “Concrete is used in as many applications as we could think of to showcase Damian’s skill set, and Prue’s art studio is given precedence at the front of the house.” The Oliveris’ house is located on a 500-square-metre site and their brief to Auhaus asked for an unfussy home for a young family.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Damian and Prue Oliveri and their young son, daughter and three dogs
Location: Torquay, Victoria
Size: 340 square metres, four bedrooms, three bathrooms
Architect: Auhaus Architecture
At the front of the house, a block-concrete entry wall prevents car headlights from penetrating the main interior. Above the carport, Prue’s art studio is veiled with timber battens and translucent screens, which create a glowing effect at night. The rear of the house backs onto wetlands and a golf course.
Bluestone paving: Bamstone
Who lives here: Damian and Prue Oliveri and their young son, daughter and three dogs
Location: Torquay, Victoria
Size: 340 square metres, four bedrooms, three bathrooms
Architect: Auhaus Architecture
At the front of the house, a block-concrete entry wall prevents car headlights from penetrating the main interior. Above the carport, Prue’s art studio is veiled with timber battens and translucent screens, which create a glowing effect at night. The rear of the house backs onto wetlands and a golf course.
Bluestone paving: Bamstone
Because there are two-storey homes on both sides, the house is designed as a walled-in sanctuary, internalising the outdoor living. “Our clients didn’t want to feel like they were in suburbia,” says Fitzpatrick. “They wanted to feel like they were down the coast with big sky and ocean. The challenge was to create an internalised environment where they didn’t feel the impact of the neighbours and could enjoy framed views of the landscape and wetlands beyond.”
The house is entered via a door in the concrete wall that opens to an entry courtyard, similar to an antechamber in the interior of the home. “We designed this gated-entry courtyard space so that the front door could be glazed, allowing the house to be opened from front to back with a green aspect from end to end,” says Fitzpatrick.
Once inside the front door, the space opens up into a double-height gallery, glazed on one side to reveal the plan that wraps around a large central courtyard.
The house has a simple layout with the hallway and living area encircling the central courtyard. The children’s bedrooms, bathroom and a study are on the other side of the entry wall, and the master suite is upstairs.
Windows along the length of the passage can be fully opened to the central courtyard. Plantings on the roof gardens drape over the perimeter of the concrete eaves, and create a thermal blanket over the house.
“The landscape component was integral to the overall design, and by providing an entry and main courtyard as well as roof gardens over the whole ground floor, we were able to create a mini-landscaped world within the semi-suburban environment,” says Fitzpatrick.
As the founder of Oliveri Design and Construction, Damian’s work can be seen throughout the house, poured in-situ. No attention to detail has been spared, including the z-bar holes in the walls with brass plugs that add an extra layer of detail.
“The material has been fully embraced with all its inherent strengths and flaws,” says Fitzpatrick. “Paired with natural hardwood, the house is elemental and raw, but nonetheless warm and welcoming as a home for a young family.”
“The material has been fully embraced with all its inherent strengths and flaws,” says Fitzpatrick. “Paired with natural hardwood, the house is elemental and raw, but nonetheless warm and welcoming as a home for a young family.”
Auhaus Architecture designed the custom staircase and balustrade that leads up to the master bedroom. It is fabricated using folded steel plates, and is a lightweight element to offset the heaviness of the concrete.
A concrete bench runs alongside the staircase and the length of the hallway. The concrete floor is insulated hydronic infill slabs that reduce heat loss into the ground during winter. Cross ventilation, deep eaves and the inherent thermal mass of the concrete house help keep it cool in summer.
The open-plan living, dining and kitchen area face onto the central courtyard as well as to the wetlands at the back.
Timber ceilings bring warmth to the predominantly concrete space, as does the layering of textures in the furnishings. Velvet, leather, sheep hide, and linen soften the brutality of the main material. An open fireplace is carved out of the concrete wall, and structural dropped-concrete beams criss-cross beneath the timber ceiling to bring further patterning and detailing to the room.
Cedar timber ceilings and walls with oil finish
Timber ceilings bring warmth to the predominantly concrete space, as does the layering of textures in the furnishings. Velvet, leather, sheep hide, and linen soften the brutality of the main material. An open fireplace is carved out of the concrete wall, and structural dropped-concrete beams criss-cross beneath the timber ceiling to bring further patterning and detailing to the room.
Cedar timber ceilings and walls with oil finish
The kitchen brings together a multitude of materials in a glam-industrial aesthetic. The concrete benchtops are poured in-situ, with black paperock joinery, a sustainable material made from paper pulp and resin.
The New York Marble splashback is white with dark purple-toned veins, and it provides a dramatic backdrop for the custom-made brass tubular casings of the extractor fans. Other brass details include the joinery handles and light fittings, custom-made by Auhaus Architecture.
The bathroom features the same materials palette as the kitchen with concrete, timber, New York marble and brass details. Auhaus Architecture custom-made the round bathroom mirror.
Upstairs, the master suite is designed to resemble a loft space and is surrounded by decking and roof gardens. The master suite includes the owners’ bedroom, bathroom, extensive walk-in-robe, and a small courtyard positioned between the bedroom and bathroom.
“It is very simply planned, with views over wetlands to one side and over roof gardens and the central courtyard to the other,” says Fitzpatrick. The z-bar holes provide detail to the vast areas of concrete, and linens and rugs soften its mass.
Across the courtyard, the master suite has a freestanding bathtub with aged brass tapware, and a gold vanity against a marble wall.
Kado bathtub: Reece; Icon tapware: Astra Walker
Kado bathtub: Reece; Icon tapware: Astra Walker
The back garden is a small area between the house and the adjoining wetlands and golf course, but it’s within the internal sanctuary of the house where family life takes place. “When you are in the house, you do feel like you’re surrounded by nature, which was quite a challenge given the site particulars,” says Fitzpatrick. “The house is pared back and cleanly detailed and yet feels very warm and welcoming, despite the mass of concrete. We were very happy with the design resolution and how the house actually feels to live in, which is really the key at the end of the day.”
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More
Missed last week’s Houzz Tour? Catch up here with this Melbourne Houzz Tour: It’s Easy Being Green in This Californian Bungalow
Tell us
What do you love about this house? Share your thoughts in the Comments, save your favourite photos and like the story. Join the conversation.
More
Missed last week’s Houzz Tour? Catch up here with this Melbourne Houzz Tour: It’s Easy Being Green in This Californian Bungalow
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Very cool! Really like it, it makes quite a statement, well done to all involved.
The home has been beautifully executed, even if all that concrete imparts the art gallery vibes; (rather than correctional! ha! I get the institutional comment tho). But yes, too much hard and harsh surfaces despite the textile additives-as pretty as they are, the floor being concrete too-is just a step too far for me to imagine living in; I wud have put down hardwood real timber-(Is the floor even heated?- I hope so!) The staircase wud be very noisy too-being steel.