Sawmill House. Yackandandah, Australia
Befitting a regionally based sculptor, Sawmill House is a hand crafted upgrade from his existing rather rustic bohemian abode.
Leveraging our client’s skill set was a priority. We facilitated this with a rough plan a year prior to the start of construction, then slowly developed the design whilst physically working with the client on-site for the duration of the build. This design/build approach allowed us to move away from conventional solutions and investigate highly bespoke yet cost effective alternatives. Large sections of the roof and facade could be mechanised, entire walls of glass could pivot, courtyards could be added, custom furniture, joinery and hardware could be design and manufactured on-site in realtime. The knowledge gained through a hands on approach has been incredibly valuable to the development of our young practice.
The use of the reclaimed concrete blocks is an experiment in harnessing the thousands of tonnes of concrete that goes to waste each year. Each block is a by-product of excess concrete left in trucks from one or more projects in the region, poured into rough steel troughs. We have continued to investigate leveraging industrial by-products through a design studio we run at RMIT University and have pushed the concept to include the spacial and procedural by-product elements of practice.
