Vespa Habitat by Studio Architects
In this canal-front home in Surfers Paradise, Habitat Studio Architects has softened elements of urban grit with a considered palette of biophilic elements.
Multilayered in several senses, this new build by Habitat Studio Architects is a home of two faces: the front wearing an edgy, industrial mask – a reflection of its urban locale – while the back opens up to take in balmy breezes and palm-studded skyline views of the Gold Coast, reminding the owners daily of the lifestyle reasons behind their move.
In the wake of Covid, the owners left Sydney for the laid-back ambience of Surfers Paradise. The home is set back from the bustle among the tranquil networks of canals – and, in fact, borders one to the rear – that weave through. Though the site is pure Surfers Paradise, a major part of the brief was for the home to channel an urban industrial look.
Wayne Greenland, principal architect and director of Habitat Studio Architects, explains that this desire informed the use of concrete throughout – including sheet-formed on the facade, textured and plank-formed under the eaves, as well as polished on the floors – and bold black finishes, but adds that the concept was softened to suit the relaxed surfside context. “The whole industrial character of the home has a lot of climate context, speaking to where it is sited,” he says.
One can experience this duality walking through the home. The building presents a striking facade, with a brutalist, concrete-clad box to the right that sits in dramatic contrast to a large swathe of blackened Abodo timber. The entrance is contained within a recess between these two forms, deliberately designed to feel slightly cave-like. “Even though it’s still grand, it’s narrow in the context of the house, and you feel quite compressed,” explains Greenland. “Then, as you progress through the building towards the canal, it opens out.”
Solid walls give way to large glass sliding doors that disappear into the wall cavities, and the floor level steps up onto a kitchen platform – all the better to breathe in the fresh coastal breezes and take in city skyline views that can be seen through a veil of vines. Though primarily designed to meet the brief, the building’s tectonic facade also serves an important purpose for climate comfort. While the subtropical climate is fairly benign, Greenland says, the home needed to be able to stay comfortable, even when the temperature and humidity climb to a more vexatious end. “The street front is west-facing – it looks quite shut down, but this is blocking out the western sun,” he explains. The upper-level cladding serves as another heat-blocking device; a screen of timber battens stands 600 millimetres out from the block wall behind, absorbing the sun’s heat and serving as a buffer to stop this heat gain from entering the house. Slot windows behind the battens offer cross-ventilation; the eastern side of the house opens to embrace the reliable water breezes, with excess heat rising and escaping through the western vents.
Among the cast of materials, plants play a starring role, a biophilic element that also acts as a climate cooler. To bring softening layers to the facade, horizontal bands were added, from the concrete ribbon that divides the upper level from the lower to the carport, which juts out from the building. These bands were then softened with a border of lush greenery, designed by Scott Wegener of Project Landscape, who chose a tropical palette, including a fringe of vines that gently cascades over the rear living spaces.
Greenland explains that these plants serve multiple purposes. “The planting was designed to cool the building and absorb some of that heat before it hits the structure. But, because it hangs over, it’s also a shade factor. Similar to the timber used internally, it’s another aspect that helps soften some of the really hard tectonic concrete elements of the building as well.”
This pairing of soft biophilic elements with industrial-inspired minimalism is a recurring theme throughout the home, nowhere better illustrated than in the kitchen. Centrally located, its design tackles a common conundrum of open-plan living – that of a gaping void, with spaces ill-defined by furniture alone – by raising the space on a timber platform. “One goes up two steps and the flooring material changes from polished concrete to timber. The same timber is on the ceiling, which drops down over the kitchen. It helps to define the space by compressing you in that area.”
This balance of warm and cool continues with the palette of kitchen materials: black Laminex cabinetry with a subtle timber grain and slim ceramic benchtops. A muted grey on the island contrasts with natural-stone-effect Vasari porcelain on the back bench, splashback and rangehood. Within this mostly minimalist design, appliances needed to be discreet – a brief perfectly met by the Miele range. The integrated Miele fridge is completely camouflaged in the joinery, as is the fully integrated dishwasher. Two obsidian black pyrolytic ovens are set at easy handling height, barely noticeable in the band of black joinery. Similarly, the induction cooktop was chosen for its streamlined profile, almost imperceptible in the rear bench.
It’s a clever combination of simplicity and subtle texture and layering, giving this urban-inspired home an air of laid-back liveability suited to the site and the lifestyle the clients moved here for.
Architecture and interior design by Habitat Studio Architects. Build by CMR Constructions. Landscape design by Project Landscape and JSW Landscapes & Design. Engineering by Projects & Designs Engineers. Appliances by Miele.
