The Village House
Earth is one of the oldest construction materials known to man; it can be fired, as with bricks and tiles, or used in its raw state as with adobe or rammed earth. Earth is a malleable material; in the Bible it is claimed that God formed mankind in ‘his’ own image from earth and water. Earth is a soft material that can become strong and weight bearing, while maintaining a breathable skin.
With ‘The Village House’, rammed earth provides the catalyst to bring together history, nature, malleability and softness around a graceful Federation era bungalow, adorned with a handsome veranda.
The project came to be known as The Village House owing to the number of roof gables, wings and separate buildings scattered across the large suburban block, located on Sydney’s Upper North Shore. The property comes complete with a chicken coop and enclosure, an extensive vegetable garden and a large workshop / shed. Will Dangar designed the large, lushly landscaped grounds and a custom, Cor-ten steel wood pile.
The additions to the original home stretch out to one side and towards the back of the block to best capture the northern sun. The stretches across the other side with a pool house to one end. A separate wing at the front contains the garage and laundry.
Used sparingly together with the original materials of the century old home, timber shingles, bricks recycled from this and other sites, the rammed earth walls are the links that unite the fragments. A slate roof with multiple complex gables and valleys also unifies the complex, exploded layout of the house.
Internally, the flow of the spaces reflects the century of history that has shaped the rooms, from the entry through the original veranda and the formal rooms built in the early 1900s through to the main modern additions where a curved steel stair links to the two storey main wing. The additions use materials and an architectural language that relates back atmosphere of the original house as a sign of respect and affinity yet is without mimicry. Rammed earth, limestone floors, timber trusses, and panelled timber joinery are a timeless soft palette to achieve a very liveable home for a convivial, warm and embracing family.
Location: Upper North Shore, Sydney NSW
Council: Ku-ring-gai Council
Design Architect: Luigi Rosselli
Project Architect: Irene Brugueras, Monica Vogel-Santos, Simon Hassall
Interior Designer: Decus Interiors Pty Ltd
Builder: Owner Builder
Rammed Earth Contractor: Earth Dwellings Australia
Structural Consultant: Rooney & Bye Pty Ltd
Joiner: Owner Builder
Landscaper: Dangar Barron Smith
Geothermal Heating and Cooling: Progressive Energy Systems
Photography: Justin Alexander, Prue Ruscoe, Edward Birch
A seven metre high earth chimney for the open air living room is the culmination of the modern verandah addition. The verandah connects to the swimming pool stretching out from the old house. The landscape designer, Will Dangar, added two palms to solitary existing palm.
© Justin Alexander
Built around 1910, the verandah of this late federation style house had to be rebuilt as it had been partially filled in by an unsympathetic addition. Much of the old house had to be restored too as one corner of the property had settled and required subsoil injections to level the building. The new additions sit to the right, lightly connected to a small corner of the original house.
© Luigi Rosselli
Multiple roof gables of different heights and pitches extend out of the historical part of the house, containing the new main living and kitchen wing on the ground floor and the childrens’ bedrooms on the first floor, which all have small mezzanines built into the roof form.
A modern flat roofed verandah connects the ground floor rooms with a shaded and breezy outdoor terrace that provides a gentle transition between the interior spaces and the sprawling garden.
© Justin Alexander
Luke Mahony of Earth Dwellings Australia is the heroic rammed earth contractor who managed to raise both the formwork and earth seven metres in the air without traditional cranes and ram it to perfection. Traditionally the fire was the main focal point of the home in this case the centre has moved out of the main house as this garden is the focal centre of gravity.
© Edward Birch
The monolithic nature of the rammed earth intentionally contrasts with the filigree of the cedar shingles and the CNC routed plywood shutters. The verticality of the chimney and the palm trees is strengthened by the horizontal lines of the verandah and shutter tracks.
© Edward Birch
A massive Warmington Open Wood fire box made in New Zealand and large enough to contain a spit is the raison d'être for the chimney, a large Cor-Ten steel timber and tool store stretches to the right. The ceiling frame can be closed up with a retractable canvas awning.
© Edward Birch
A birch grove lies between the front verandah and the new garage, with the two storey wing at the back. The landscaping, provided by Dangar Barin Smith, complements the architecture, the driveway gravel matches the rammed earth walls, and the silver bark of the birch trees and filigree is attuned to the detailed timberwork of the old verandah.
© Justin Alexander
A calm and contemplative environment offers an invitation to sit down allow the mind to wander or create. White oil on the blackbutt floorboards and white lining boards to the ceiling provide a luminous setting for reading on the verandah.
© Justin Alexander
Where the verandah meets the new wing, its timber shingles are a soft and malleable material that allows the structure of the verandah to terminate on a lightweight wall.
© Justin Alexander
The swimming pool laps the recycled brick wall of the master bedroom suite: crystalline water, a tropical garden and a beach umbrella can be contemplated from the master bedroom window seat of a window that projects out over the pool in Cor-Ten steel box.
© Edward Birch
© Edward Birch
© Justin Alexander
Within the vast volume of the main living and dining room, three robust trusses span from the rammed earth walls. The earth used to construct the walls was originally going to be obtained from the excavation of the site, however the clay component was not suitable, in the end the clay soil, with its light and sandy colouring, was sourced from the outer suburbs of Sydney.
© Justin Alexander
The skylights provide an efficient passive solar system in combination with the thermal mass of the rammed earth wall.
© Justin Alexander
A child growing up in The Village House could play Monopoly for the pleasure of stacking together red and green hotel and building tokens side by side in the game to outdo their home.
© Edward Birch
The contractors, Earth Dwellings, took care not to wet the earth too much before installation in order to achieve a grainy texture. To the bottom of the wall there is a long brass ventilation grille that is part of a complex geothermal heating and cooling system supplied by Progressive Energy Systems that operates through pipes buried in the ground and a heat exchanger.
© Edward Birch
‘Live and play’ is the family motto, and the steel stair reflects this credo with the integration of slide. The upper levels contain the kids’ bedrooms and a rumpus / playroom, a full storey for the new generation, while the older generation remains downstairs. Taking the slide makes for an easier rush to the school drudge.
© Edward Birch
The elliptical stair is pierced by a Lindsay Adelman Branching Bubble light pendant. The steel was left in its natural mill finish state, sealed with a waxy sealer.
© Edward Birch
The stair is located at the junction between the original house levels and the new additional level. The old floorboards already had a black Japan finish and so a new coat was applied. On the lower floor are large limestone tiles from Spain.
© Edward Birch
© Prue Ruscoe
Narrowline glass and a table lamp aid concentration on the homework desk, the rammed earth keeps the brain cool.
© Prue Ruscoe
© Prue Ruscoe
The kitchen cabinetry, designed by Luigi Rosselli Architect’s Monica Vogel Santos, and the finishes selected by Alexandra Donahoe of Decus maintain a classic but modern feel, the pendant light is a favourite of Alexandra’s.
© Prue Ruscoe