Bowral House
New South Wales, Australia · 2001
Photo · Photo by Glenn Murcutt
A precedent for an extremely elongated, low-profile rural residence that uses a barrel-vaulted corrugated metal roof to integrate harmoniously with a flat, open landscape and water feature.
- What we like about this project
- The roof curvature mimics the gentle rise and fall of the surrounding earthen mounds.
Materials
- corrugated-metal
- glass
- steel
- turf
- water
Visual identifiers
- corrugated-metal-roofing
- linear-massing
- barrel-vault
- pond-reflection
- rural-landscape
Style tags
- critical-regionalism
- vernacular-modernism
- contextual
Visual tags
- regionalism
- linear-plan
- water-feature
- low-profile
- australian-architecture
- Geometry
- An extremely elongated, low-slung linear volume with a gently curved barrel-vaulted roof profile that hugs the horizon line.
- Facade system
- Corrugated metal cladding with integrated glazing bands.
- Structural guess
- Lightweight steel framing with curved roof trusses.
- Spatial scale
- A long, single-story residential scale stretched horizontally across a vast rural site.
- Lighting
- Overcast, diffused daylight with soft reflections on the corrugated metal roof and the surface of the pond.
- Atmosphere
- Serene and expansive, with the building's metallic skin mirroring the moody, overcast sky.
- Environmental context
- Rural landscape in New South Wales with a naturalistic pond, grassy banks, and scattered native trees.
- Spatial experience
- The building acts as a long, low-profile boundary wall in the landscape, reflecting the sky and integrating with the surrounding topography and water body.
- Composition rhythm
- A continuous horizontal sweep punctuated by subtle roof vents and a line of young trees in front.
- Style reading
- Australian critical regionalism
- Program
- Private residential house
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- corrugated-metal, glass, steel, turf, water
- Visual identifiers
- corrugated-metal-roofing, linear-massing, barrel-vault, pond-reflection, rural-landscape
- Style tags
- critical-regionalism, vernacular-modernism, contextual
- Visual tags
- regionalism, linear-plan, water-feature, low-profile, australian-architecture
- Geometry
- An extremely elongated, low-slung linear volume with a gently curved barrel-vaulted roof profile that hugs the horizon line.
- Facade system
- Corrugated metal cladding with integrated glazing bands.
- Structural guess
- Lightweight steel framing with curved roof trusses.
- Spatial scale
- A long, single-story residential scale stretched horizontally across a vast rural site.
- Lighting
- Overcast, diffused daylight with soft reflections on the corrugated metal roof and the surface of the pond.
- Atmosphere
- Serene and expansive, with the building's metallic skin mirroring the moody, overcast sky.
- Environmental context
- Rural landscape in New South Wales with a naturalistic pond, grassy banks, and scattered native trees.
- Spatial experience
- The building acts as a long, low-profile boundary wall in the landscape, reflecting the sky and integrating with the surrounding topography and water body.
- Composition rhythm
- A continuous horizontal sweep punctuated by subtle roof vents and a line of young trees in front.
- Style reading
- Australian critical regionalism
- Program
- Private residential house
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture