Antipodean cocoon: this unusual holiday house in the Australian bush is a lyrical yet highly practical response to site and climate.Seen from afar, this extraordinary holiday house looks like a Zeppelin crash-landed in the Australian bush. Clinging to a precipitous slope, the curved capsule seems improbably fragile, like a giant insect cocoon lodged among the trees. Designed by the Melbourne-based architect/artist partnership of Michael Bellemo and Cat MacLeod for their own recreational use, the house is a surreal presence in the thickly wooded coastal landscape of south-west Victoria. Holiday homes abound in this area, but the blimp blimp: see airship. house is a highly personal, poetic and practical response to the challenges of terrain and environment. The steep, isolated site is prone to landslip land·slip n. See landslide. Noun 1. landslip - a slide of a large mass of dirt and rock down a mountain or cliff landslide slide - (geology) the descent of a large mass of earth or rocks or snow etc. and the climate is often cold and windy. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Clad in a ribbed skin of gull-grey steel shingles, the house cocoon is wedged precariously into the hillside, its aerodynamic form calculated to minimise wind resistance. Six spindly spin·dly adj. spin·dli·er, spin·dli·est Slender and elongated, especially in a way that suggests weakness. spindly Adjective [-dlier, -dliest legs of galvanised steel support its bulk, so it appears to hover weightlessly above the steeply sloping ground. A gangplank at one end connects it with a small barbecue area and a winding approach track. Within the bulbous bulbous /bul·bous/ (bul´bus) 1. bulbar. 2. shaped like, bearing, or arising from a bulb. bulbous having the form or nature of a bulb; bearing or arising from a bulb. metal carapace carapace (kâr`əpās), shield, or shell covering, found over all or part of the anterior dorsal portion of an animal. In lobsters, shrimps, crayfish, and crabs, the carapace is the part of the exoskeleton that covers the head and thorax , a plywood-lined box houses the main living and dining spaces which face south towards a ridge of hills and the ocean beyond. Here, the long side of the cocoon has been squared off and glazed to create a huge vitrine and cantilevered terrace, maximising light and views. Inside, the spaces dovetail dovetail (dov´tāl), n a widened or fanned-out portion of a prepared cavity, usually established deliberately to increase the retention and resistance form. together with the economic precision of a small boat or caravan. The main bedroom is tucked into the cocoon's snout snout the upper lip and the apex of the nose, especially of the pig. Called also rostrum. Has a specialized skin to survive the rigors of rooting, is supported by a separate bone (the os rostri), and also has a few sensory hairs. forming a snug sleeping burrow, perforated by narrow skylights. Bunk beds for children and a bathroom lined with translucent green resin, are slotted in next door. The kitchen runs along the long north side of the main living and dining space. The pine plywood lining has been coated with limewash, to prevent it turning orange. Though its orientation means that sun from the north is largely cut off by the trees, the house is warmed by an open fireplace and is highly insulated. The lightweight monocoque mon·o·coque n. A metal structure, such as an aircraft, in which the skin absorbs all or most of the stresses to which the body is subjected. structure is a hybrid of techniques appropriated from boat building and aircraft engineering. The internal rigid rectangular box was built first and plywood ribs added to generate the basic cocoon shape. Green hardwood battens were then attached to the ribs, forming fixing points for the narrow steel shingles. Like a woven basket, the meshing together of the various elements--ribs, battens and shingles--creates a strong, stable, composite structure. Details were often resolved on-site, so the whole construction has a rustic, makeshift air. Though undoubtedly a challenge to design and build, the outcome is a delight--an antipodean an·tip·o·des pl.n. 1. Any two places or regions that are on diametrically opposite sides of the earth. 2. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) Something that is the exact opposite or contrary of another; an antipode. primitive hut for the twenty-first century. C. S. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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