A Flowing Journey – Scotia House by Myers Ellyett Architects
Responding to the sunny disposition of its sub-tropical locale, Scotia House sees a series of volumes interweave with outdoor courtyard spaces as an expression of a home that embraces the outdoors. Myers Ellyett Architects opens outward and allows natural and flowing connections throughout, while respecting the original timber home vernacular.
In Brisbane’s Auchen flower, Scotia House is a modern take on the Queenslander home. Inspired by the origins of the existing timber home on site, the surrounding additions take form as both an expression of solid and void, creating courtyard spaces in between the volumes on site. In response to a locale that encourages an engagement with the outdoors, the insertions open outward, allowing amble natural light and illumination inward, while passively cooling the spaces in the process. Myers Ellyett takes referential cues from the typology of the area and combines them through a contemporary lens to propose a relevant home that captures the history of the site.
Built by Robson Constructions, together with landscaping by Dan Young Landscape, Scotia House is a careful collaboration that extends to the bounding edges of its site. Inspired by a natural fluidity of movement, zones bleed into one another organically and support the passive comfort of each concurrently. A true journey through site, there is an embedded sense of discovery, reveal, compression and tension as volumes open and close in. The garden becomes an important area of refuge from the home as a result, both in a supportive functionality, and as a place of balance, revealing the interplay between the built and the natural.
Originally built in the 20thcentury, the original home is classic and familiar of the area. Ensuring the new elements responded and connected, therefore, was key, acting as an extension of the existing philosophy, rather than in competition. Through dedicated boxed and ground plantings, together with the insertion of an in-ground pool, the outdoor space is animated and the building softened. A light palette deliberately creates an increased sense of scale and proportion, allowing natural light to bounce off of surfaces. Pale timber adds an element of warmth internally and in the shutter feature elements that filter light in. The use of formed concrete to carve and mould architectural elements then anchors the spaces to the site, adding a textural diversity as it responds to changes in climate and lighting.
