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update 030508 |
| Macarthur Gardens, NSW 2005 for Stockland Property Trust |
| Macarthur Gardens Education & Display Centre |
| Macarthur Gardens is a new housing estate one hour West of Sydney. The Education and Display Suite is where the project ‘vision’ is communicated and where individual housing lots will be sold. When all 900 Lots are gone, the building will be packed up and re-assembled at the next development, the current site developed. |
| The client’s brief seemed simple; a re-useable structure that would stand out from its residential context and act as a tool to help educate potential purchasers about environmental processes and the benefits of more sustainable ways of living. |
| Inspired by Jørn Utzon’s unbuilt Bayview House's of the 1960's, a ‘lego set’ or kit of parts was created, whereby the logic of a repeating structural system (precast concrete) is the architetcure. Wherever possible the structure is revealed and explored for its sculptural and material qualities. Elements like the roof/gutters that tip water into the concrete awning, then down a rain chain and into tanks for reuse is a small metaphor of the sites hydrology that helps underscore the relationship of the building to the land. |
| Apart from concrete the other major material is timber. Recycled blackbutt elements internally and ochre-stained rough-sawn plywood cladding externally. Notions of 'home' - moments of warmth and intimacy act as counterpoint to the cool gallery environment; limed hoop-pine and brushbox contrast and complement the cool rationality of the concrete structure. |
| The building for us acts as a prototype or proposition for a new approach to the issue of low-cost suburban housing. Our clients love it and version 1.1 in Melbourne is just finished. |
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| This is a public building
so you can go and visit it! If you go, be sure to complement the nice
people on their lovely work environment ;-) It can be found off of Gilchrist Drive (Entry via Menangle Road), Campbelltown – about 500 metres from Macarthur Station |
| Download project profile here (1MB) |
Architecture Australia link |
