Goetz House 1984
This minimal house in Buderim, Queensland is an exercise in simplicity and contrast. The plan is based on a hierarchy of privacy, seasonal solar aspect, prevailing breezes, and a subtle transition between house and garden.
The subtropical climate allows open living spaces to the north to be enclosed by fly-screened walls and casement windows beneath extended eaves. A fly-screened gallery links these casual living areas to a series of masonry alcoves that are intimate and secure spaces on the southern side of the house. Internally, the gallery is a spine connecting the spaces and places of the house. Externally, the curved roof gathers these parts into a whole.
Traditional building materials of corrugated iron, exposed hardwood framing, turpentine floorboards, silky oak window and door joinery and clear-finished plywood ceilings provide a warm, tactile contrast to the cool hardness of the stainless steel bench-tops and the face blockwork. The honest expression of the materials and their simply resolved details juxtapose textures, colours, structure and scale.
Landscaping (never completed) and a carport protect the house and its inhabitants from the street. The southern side of the house was to have been finished with a series of gardens and decks. The journey through the house – alternately past garden and internal spaces – was to have been experienced as a series of anticipated contrasting episodes.
The architecture gained vitality from the clients’ poetic design brief and from the builder who entered into the spirit of the building, and made a significant contribution to the development of the details, many of which were resolved on site.
RAIA Awards
1985 Finalist Commendation – Robin Boyd Award (National Award)
1985 Citation for Meritorious Architecture House of the Year
