Gap Residence by Guymer|Bailey Architects

Gap Residence is a home designed by Guymer|Bailey Architects.

Gap Residence by Guymer|Bailey Architects

“This residence in Brisbane’s western suburb, The Gap, is a home designed by architects with fervour and dedication for an architect. The house displays many creative architectural and landscape principles that distinguish the credentials and reputation of Guymer Bailey. This residence is an architect’s own home and displays the pain and the passion when an architect designs for himself. The house embodies many of the design principles valued and espoused by Guymer Bailey Architects and Landscape. This residence flanks a rainforest creek on a 2575 square metre (27,715 square foot) level site. The residence is a long rectangular box, essentially one room deep, orientated to catch the morning sun and northeast breezes on the large verandah adjoining the living area and kitchen. The design is driven by environmental sustainability principles, through the use of materials that have a long life cycle and are low maintenance. The busy street frontage of the residence is a blank, sound-insulated wall clad in zinc-coated corrugated steel sheeting with three bands of white corrugated steel sheeting and opal polycarbonate corrugated sheeting. The skillion roof floats over this wall separated by a narrow, glazed window running the full length of the wall. This façade anticipates the remainder of the house which is roofed and clad externally with zinc corrugated steel sheets. Wide, unlined eaves shade the glazed walls and protect openable windows. All the principal living spaces have large full-height windows linking the internal spaces with the external landscape to offer good cross ventilation. The continuation of floor and soffit materials through the full-height glass wall reinforces this visual link. The main living occurs in a double-volume space overlooked by the master bedroom. A standalone fireplace with stainless steel flue heats both the upper and lower spaces effectively on cold winter nights. A thermal chimney, integrated into the stairwell, culminates at the apex of the skillion roof being fitted with three rotary ventilators. By the opening and closing of adjustable vents in summer and winter, this chimney heats or cools the residence. The northwest corner glazed wall captures the view of both the adjacent parklands and distant hills. Excessive heat gain is mitigated through the slanting of the wall off the vertical and the use of heat-absorbing glass and vertical aluminium fins fixed to every mullion. Clear-finished ironbark is used in both the flooring and decking, as well as the skirtings and door and window trims. Accordingly, internal and external stairs are galvanised stringers with ironbark treads and handrails, and stainless steel cable balustrades. More than 35,000 litres (9,245 gallons) of rainwater storage provides water for toilet flushing and irrigation.”