Modernist Reduction – Pine Springs House by Harley Graham Architects
Sitting perched and reaching out toward the ocean and lush canopies of vegetation, Pine Springs House draws on a modernist style of reductionism. Harley Graham Architects crafts a home of considered restraint and open connection, while navigating a sloping site and reducing the impact on existing neighbouring properties.
In the context of Ballina, an area which has come to be known as ‘Ballifornia’ due to a growing vernacular of streamlined and modernist style homes, Pine Springs House is a fitting addition. Inserted between existing allotments, the proposal needed to be both sensitive to the natural and the built encasing environments that it would sit amongst. As a similar nod to the modernist era, the resulting form sits low and lean across its site, while still being elevated on a platform to create a feeling of suspension and increased cantilever. Harlsey Graham Architects uses the elevation to ensure optimal views out toward the nearby ocean, while also positioning prime viewing from within the home, amongst the existing tree canopies.
Pine Springs House sees a close collaboration with an impassioned client and Belcon Construction stemming from a shared desire to craft a modernist box of sorts. Suitably located amongst similar formed homes, the proposal references the language of the fibro sheeted cottages nearby as inspiration, while ensuring a masonry and solidified base to secure and counterweight the lighter elements of the structure. Key to the era was an experimental spirit to the extents and capability of materials, and Pine Springs House is no exception. Upon its concrete block base, expressed extensions are supported by upturned structural members that come to a point as they intercept the slab below, creating a form of sculptural lattice in the process.
As an occasional home, visited as an escape from the owner’s prime residence in Sydney, the home becomes a portal to both another time and a place of disconnect. Through a restrained approach, each insertion needed to add to the overall retreat and restorative nature of the home, focusing on the location and a connection to the natural. Large-spanning glazing elements assists in the visual connection beyond the home, while the stripping of ornamentation and streamlining details ensures everything has a place and purpose. Internally, contrast is key, ensuring integrated joinery and iconic furniture additions sit highlighted amongst the smooth poured flooring underfoot, leaving the open apertures to the views beyond uninterrupted.
