This concrete-walled house in Australia challenges the current state of housing in Perth. The sustainable apartment and house combination was designed for small plots and uses commercial materials in an innovative way. The architects have thus achieved a low space requirement and climate-neutral status. The main task was actually to design a 175m2 block under Perth's one-bedroom dwelling. This was intended to create an affordable and sustainable home for “Whispering Smith” architectural firm director Kate and her partner Matt.
Contemporary house with concrete walls
The so-called “House A” is 70 m² in size. It also offers compact, flexible and charming spaces in which to host a dinner party for 30 guests. So this shows that small areas can actually be big enough.
The concrete-walled home was the first of three homes in development by feminist architecture firm Whispering Smith in partnership with Kate's father. The small footprint of the house was designed to preserve the existing mature trees and the 1950s house on site. For this reason the building was allocated to the remaining land.
The construction is therefore a product of highly efficient planning. Commercial concrete construction techniques were used to achieve a tighter and larger footprint. The project also relied heavily on craftsmanship, detailing and a raw material. This has a so-called “Wabi-Sabi” specification, which allows it to support the small footprint.
Wide spaces with a compact design
Whispering Smith combined spaces and volumes to simultaneously achieve privacy and openness without doors and walls. When the cost of the building is considered in conjunction with the lower expenditure to acquire the land, it is evident that the project was economically viable for the millennia due to its innovative architecture.
The front garden of House A utilizes the edge as a native garden and outdoor living area and has increased the comfort of both the residents of the house, those on the street and the local birdlife. The landscaping of this house with concrete walls provides an important cultural and environmental benefit. It provides much-needed green space for residents, which would otherwise diminish as cities become more dense. Other sustainable aspects of the home include an underground rain tank, solar panels, recycled materials and an internal dry rope.
The soft gray concrete surfaces absorb and reflect the surrounding natural landscape, while the building's minimal form stands in stark contrast to its ubiquitous brick and tile neighbors. In the evening, the house almost disappears into the late afternoon light, gently reflecting the colors of Scarborough sunsets.
The design of House A was originally intended to challenge the status quo of oversized and substandard housing in WA. Since its completion, the project has become a platform for Whispering Smith to share the positive power of architecture.
