Horbury Hunt celebrates the winning C500
Brisbane-based Eastoffice Architects, headed by Craig Channon and Angus Munro, re-made a 1920’s triple-gabled bungalow into a remarkable, contemporary Queenslander. A relaxation of the building code allowed building to the boundary, enabling the house to be shifted sideways and the layout to be reprogrammed. The entry was relocated to the side, providing direct access via a fire-rated stairwell to the guest areas at the rear.
The boundary wall is a massive 6.5 metres square of stack-bonded Bowral Simmental Silver brickwork. Even more remarkably, the perpend (vertical) joints are not mortared! “I hadn’t come across this sort of brickwork before and it was an opportunity to play with it. It’s reasonably complex in its engineering and construction,” says Craig Channon who did all the engineering drafting in consultation with his structural engineer. Even so there was a lot of on-site consultation between the architect, engineer and the bricklayers, Elvis and Rose.
“Elvis and Rose’s involvement was critical,” Craig believes. “I talked with them about the possibilities and the nature of the bricks. I have worked with them on a number of other projects but nothing as challenging as this! Like any crafted outcome, it relies on everyone’s participation.”
The back of the inner leaf of the boundary wall was coated with a dense, high-build polyurethane waterproofing compound, primarily to act as a temporary bracing. As the outer leaf went up, ties and starter bars were placed and the cavity was hand-filled.
Their combined expertise was further tested by a large panel of hit and miss (perforated) brickwork flanking the front of the boundary wall. The perforations allow summer breezes from the north-east but a series of custom made pivoting blades behind are shut seasonally. “So you get the security, ventilation and privacy aspects from the brickwork,” says Channon.
The upper level of the rear flanking wall to the boundary is also finished in hit-and-miss brickwork, this time punctuated with projecting brick headers. Adding to the cornucopia of brickwork is a panel of dogtooth dentils, a quaint term for bricks projecting at 45 degrees from the wall. Craig Channon sees this work as continuing Eastoffice’s engagement with material possibilities and place. “As a practice we are constantly exploring with expressive potential of materiality and how this sits in the broader realm of landscape.”