DUFFY STREET HOUSE

Duffy Street House

The clients for this house in Ainslie, ACT approached the architect after a review of some of their previous published work. The key determinants of the design were clear;

• A primary response to sustainability issues,
• An aesthetic overlay expressed in the clients words as a “cascading of flat roofs”. (ie a modest and modernist building).
• A house that flows from inside to out
• A modesty of size that relates more to the proportions of previous generations rather than some of the oversized aspirational dwellings overtly on display in the newer suburbs.
• A house that will cater for a nascent family and grow with its changing demands.

An attempt to incorporate some elements of ‘Architecture’ (with a big A) within a budget only usually associated with ‘magazine fodder’ design. The scale has been restricted to single story as a deliberate attempt to respond to appropriate suburban form and context. The resultant house addresses all of the above stated aims and represents a successful synergy between client, architect and builder. As it should be, with all house designs, there has been a concerned with getting the basic principles of orientation and site layout correct from the outset. Resolving these issues even at the level of writing the brief allows a sustainability agenda to be addressed. This approach consequently implies no additional cost at all in producing a house with good environmental manners.