What, if anything, is a house? Can a farm be a house? A museum? A garden?
These questions will be explored during an “engaging day of learning” in regional Victoria, with some of Australia’s most innovative architects presenting genre-bending “hybrid houses” that combine the function of living with something else.
This edition of The Architecture Symposium will be held at the Daylesford Longhouse by Partners Hill, the 2019 Australian House of the Year and a hybrid house par excellence and it includes presentations on a range of Australian houses that perform multiple functions.
“Whether performing as a music venue, gallery or vehicle for the regeneration of a damaged landscape, these projects are united by an exploration of dualities and hybrid typologies,” said Katelin Butler, editorial director at Architecture Media, the symposium organizer (and publisher of ArchitectureAU).
Lyon Housemuseum by Lyons Architecture.
Image: Dianna Snape
“The design and inhabitation of a home reflect the personalities or values of the people who live there. This day in regional Victoria will offer a glimpse into the way some of our best architects have collaborated with creative clients to deliver houses that are more than just places to live.”
Partners Hill founder Timothy Hill will share the story of Daylesford Longhouse alongside client Ronnen Goren, himself the head of a design practice – Studio Ongarato. Daylesford Longhouse incorporates a working farm, a cooking school, a reception venue and a place of residence, all in one 110-metre-long shed-like structure.
Yueji and Corbett Lyon, the minds behind the Lyon Housemuseum, will also present their project. Designed by Corbett Lyon’s practice Lyons Architecture, the Melbourne institution is a private house that holds one of the country’s largest and most significant collections of Australian contemporary art and it is opened for pre-booked public tours on designated days each year.
William Smart of Smart Design Studio will discuss the process of designing the unique, award-winning Indigo Slam, the Sydney home of art collector and philanthropist Judith Neilson. Smart describes as “a piece of sculpture to be lived in.” Indigo Slam won the Premier Award for Australian Interior Design at the 2017 Australian Interior Design Awards and the Emil Sodersten Award for Interior Architecture at the 2017 National Architecture Awards.
Garden House by Baracco and Wright Architects.
Image: Rory Gardiner
Bruce Wolfe of Conrad Gargett and Jocelyn Wolfe of the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, Griffith University will discuss Harrigans Lane Collective, a property in the Granite Belt of northern New South Wales that has become a place for combining architecture, music, arts and design pusuits. Among their built projects is The Piano Mill, a musical tower in rural Queensland which became the first building to win the National Award for Experimental Music.
The founding directors of Baracco and Wright Architects, Louise Wright and Mauro Baracco, will speak about Garden House, an experimental weekend home in Westernport, Victoria that was conceived as “just a little more than a tent.” The minimal house was designed to support the regeneration of Indigenous vegetation at the coastal site by admitting light, insects and hydrological processes, while maintaining the ground plane.
And finally, Ingrid Richards and Adrian Spence of Brisbane practice Richards and Spence will be talking about their project La Scala, which combines two residences in one. Sited on a hilltop on the edge of Brisbane’s CBD and adjoining commercial zoning, the project also considers other possible adaptations.
The Architecture Symposium is part of Design Speaks, a series of talks, seminars, forums and conferences on architecture and design, for design professionals and their clients and interested members of the wider community. To see the full program and purchase tickets head here.
The Architecture Symposium is supported by supporting partners Bosch and Space and venue parter Daylesford Longhouse.
