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Overlooking the vast landscape of southern Queensland‘s Darling Downs region is Jesse Bennett Studio’s House in Toowoomba. Formerly a 1960’s homestead ‘reminiscent of the English Arts and Crafts Movement’ the architecture went through an ambitious reconstruction to become a two-storey family home crafted in earthy tones and monolithic structures.
On first impression, the house feels like a modern interior encased by a relic. However, as an architecture driven on the concept of time, there’s a shared language of repetition that makes the sudden contrast so successful.
In the beginning, the project was planned as a repurposing of the homestead with concrete sculptures to accommodate the client’s family of five. Upon realising the existing walls were fragile in structure, the design direction pivoted towards a rebuild while reusing as much of the existing material as possible. The decision retained the homestead’s original free-form parameters constructed with bricks. Additional rescued elements, like the weathered roof tiles, were also given a second life as ornamental features that can be viewed from within.
Stepping inside, it is surprising to see that the ambience from the façade does not directly translate into the interior design of the five-bedroom home. Although, with careful observation of the sightlines arranged inside the white-wall timber-floorboard interior, the thresholds from each room capture the depth and field of the 723 square metre property.
The sloped contour of the site also contributed to the planning – with private spaces towards the west and public spaces towards the east. No matter the type of program, each room is still accessible to a breathtaking landscape designed by Cloudlake Design and The Great Dividing Range which the property sits on.
Related: Planchonella House in Cairns by Jesse Bennett.
Grounding the house is a sculptural concrete roof that doubles as a leafy garden terrace and a shield from westerly winds. The fluid yet solid structure is supported by puncturing concrete and brick columns that gently frames the space.
The majority of concrete joists and bearers have their edges scooped and chamfered inwards, allowing excess water to cascade down into the planters attached around the house. So much appreciation for concrete craftsmanship is evident with some of the planters – especially with the zig-zag carved ones that shelter the outdoor terrace. With such a combination of aesthetics, there is no denying the intricacy is drawn from Bennett’s experience with Italian architecture, and especially Carlo Scarpa.
From afar, one could easily mistake this home for an architectural relic through the alluring Scarpa-like curation of bricks that support and frame the estate. Either attached to the house or scattered in the garden, each is arranged to distil the view before us. Walking through these arches catalyses the doorway effect, leading us to continually admire the complexity manifested from the considered arrangement. When sunlight spills the warmth from the structures, the gesture transports the house into a realm between the past and present.
For an architecture designed to transcend beyond time and trend, House in Toowoomba achieves this through Jesse Bennett’s careful repetition of layering spaces and details. It is the atmosphere that will put you in awe, which will only deepen as the architecture matures – all while being embraced by the sweeping landscape of The Great Dividing Range.
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https://www.yellowtrace.com.au/tjuringa-house-toowoomba-jesse-bennett-studio-australian-architecture/