On the Water’s Edge – Boathouse by Maguire + Devine Architects

As its own moment in the landscape, Boathouse sits as a purpose-built addition to a family home in southern Tasmania. Maguire + Devine Architects draws from the natural and texturally rich surrounds to propose the addition as a standalone retreat space upon the water.

There is something undeniably meditative about water; the soft constant movement of a river that calms and draws us to it. The opportunity to perch a building upon such a setting, to embrace the muffling hum of the water, is one worth making the most of. As an extension to their already established home in Lindisfarne, in the south of Tasmania, the owners of Boathouse wanted to create a separate dwelling that was a celebration of their opportunistic outlook, which could become a destination in its own right. Taking inspiration from the removed setting, Maguire + Devine Architects bring the familiar gable form to sit along the water unobtrusively, while opening generously to the river to the north.

A lineage and connection to the threshold that has always existed between water and land is reinforced in this setting.

Built by Langford projects, in form Boathouse mimics the rural boathouse sheds found along rivers and beachfronts. A lineage and connection to the threshold that has always existed between water and land is reinforced in this setting. Internally though, the space unfolds as a comfortable and fully resolved residence of its own. Supportive to the main mid-century home, the new becomes both a refuge and place of respite due to its proximity to the water and its distance from the home. Open fully to the north, the full-height glazing offers an opportune front row seat to the surrounding landscape, while allowing natural light to flood the open living and kitchen space.

Balancing the openness to the north, layers of privacy create a sense of enclosure and protection from the elements in the other areas. Within the dark metal sheeting and timber clad envelope, the home reveals itself through a sequencing approach, with more intimate areas doused in darker and moodier colours and textures and the shared areas more open and engaging with the landscape beyond. There is a deliberate warmth felt throughout, from the layered approach and use of native timber lining the interior of the home to the timber used to wrap the exterior.

Within the dark metal sheeting and timber clad envelope, the home reveals itself through a sequencing approach, with more intimate areas doused in darker and moodier colours and textures and the shared areas more open and engaging with the landscape beyond.

Through an underlying restraint, Boathouse references the traditional structures found along the water’s edge. Maguire + Devine Architects has proposed an aptly fitting contemporary iteration on this theme to create a resolved destination on the waterfront.