Peninsula House

 My final house researched in my endeavour to answer the three questions I proposed in earlier blogs was Sean Godsell's Peninsula House. Once again we have encountered another architect who has taken all the concepts of architecture and challenged them. The Peninsula House is located in a beachside town called Sorrento (Mornington Peninsula), 120km away from Melbourne. This project is based on a very meticulous concept used in many of Godsell's designs, of exploring the Japanese notions of moya (inner room) and hisashi (enclosed veranda). Very similarly to the cabin I aim to design, the needs for the clients were very basic; a living/eating room, a library and a sleeping area. What was most interesting about this design was how Godsell justified the projects construction. He compares the project as metaphor for nature, recreating the essential concepts of the human body. The bones, are the mainstay of any living thing; in this case would be the structure that serves as support, the skin is represented as the shell that covers the bones and the joints and organs are characterized as "the circulation and environments with different functions". The outer skin of the house is made from slats of wood recovered from demolition of mills and farms in Australia. It is this aspect as well as the use of air circulation and lighting that makes this house very 'eco friendly'.

As an environmental filter there are many crucial components to the design which make it so liveable. The primary spaces have been divided differently by dimension, volume and quality of light; the living room is very light, the bedroom is moderately light and the library is dark by comparison. In respects to lighting, another great attribute is the house acts as a sun dial throughout the day, because of how the light is filtered through the timber screens, the course of the day and time of year is mapped out in the extents of the shadows cast. The house also has the ability to go from opaque to transparent with the use of moveable screens, this particularly handy in such a changing climate as Australia.

The delight of this house is that it has been designed as a nurturing inner room, which aims to provide a quiet getaway for the owners then can be opened up completely to host.