TROPICAL TERRACES.On an extraordinary site in the northern suburbs of Sydney, a family house built of glass and steel steps down a steep slope surrounded by tropical vegetation. As an architect working within the Modernist idiom, Ed Lippmann has consistently explored and exploited its inherent transparency and adaptability. Largely set in and around Sydney, Lippmann's lightweight steel and glass houses make the most of spectacular sites and extraordinary vegetation (AR March 1996). This house for a family of four is set within a thickly wooded reserve near Middle Harbour Middle Harbour is the name given to the northern arm of Port Jackson in Sydney, Australia. Middle Harbour extends about 10 kilometers (6 miles) to the northwest, from where it joins the main harbour near the Heads. in the northern suburbs of Sydney. The site falls steeply from a gravelled track to a harbourside park and, like other buildings by the practice, the house settles lightly into the wilderness, stacked up in a series of luminous interconnected terraces projected over surrounding vegetation. The clients asked for expansive living areas, an office off a secluded se·clud·ed adj. 1. Removed or remote from others; solitary. 2. Screened from view; sequestered. se·clud main bedroom, isolated quarters for two children and a swimming pool (to be provided in a second stage). Since entrance to the site was from the upper south side, the architect could allow the house to fan out north towards the sun and views, It steps down and across the rough terrain over five levels. To minimize the building's intrusion into the park, Lippmann devised a steel framed system which allows floor planes to hover An option in Microsoft Internet Explorer that removes the permanent underline from hypertext links. The underline displays automatically and only when the cursor is placed over (hovers over) the link. Hover is available in Tools/Internet Options/Advanced/Underline links. over the ground. Loosely organized around a 6 x 6m structural grid, the system yielded a series of pods to contain the various different spaces. Structure is feathered feath·ered adj. 1. Covered, provided, or adorned with feathers. 2. Having feathering, as an animal's coat. 3. Moving swiftly: feathered feet. 4. at the edges by cantilevers which reinforce the pervading impression of weightlessness weightlessness, the absence of any observable effects of gravitation. This condition is experienced by an observer when he and his immediate surroundings are allowed to move freely in the local gravitational field. . Skin and bones are separately articulated with all walls -- external and internal -- being framed in lightweight steel. Articulation, the clear expression of parts, the thin delicate lines of balustrading and the way the planes of the building recede re·cede 1 intr.v. re·ced·ed, re·ced·ing, re·cedes 1. To move back or away from a limit, point, or mark: waited for the floodwaters to recede. 2. , project, evaporate e·vap·o·rate v. 1. To convert or change into a vapor; volatilize. 2. To produce vapor. 3. To draw or pass off in the form of vapor. 4. , become translucent, all create from a distance texture and animation, so this very rational composition corresponds in an abstract way to the organic textures around it. Structural clarity disguises the subtleties of the plan. The vertical pivot is the skeletal staircase enclosed en·close also in·close tr.v. en·closed, en·clos·ing, en·clos·es 1. To surround on all sides; close in. 2. To fence in so as to prevent common use: enclosed the pasture. in translucent glass on the south. From the drive you enter the ground (middle) level which accommodates kitchen, dining room, and split level living room; above, the main bedroom and office, secluded from the rest of the house, float among tree tops with views through dense vegetation down to the harbour. At the base of the building, are the children's quarters arranged over two split levels and private, like those of their parents. Light filters into the interior through large expanses of glass panelled walls and doors. Floors -- warm wood inside, wooden decking outside - flow into broad terraces on the north. In summer the house can be kept relatively cool by natural means, for openings in north and south walls create cross ventilation. In winter it is warmed by gas fired ducted heating. Architect Lippmann Associates, Sydney Project team Gerhard Abel, Scott Lester, Ed Lippmann Structural engineer Ove Arup Sir Ove Nyquist Arup CBE, MICE, MIStructE, (born at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1895 and died in 1988) was a leading Anglo-Danish engineer, the founder of the internationally important firm of Arup and generally considered the foremost engineer of his time. & Partners Photographs Ross Honeysett |
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