Port Arthur House

A radical model of living in the bush - a compact tower form with views unfolding progressively while rising throughout the structure.

Project team:
Andrew Burns, Luke Pigliacampo, Hannah Hill-Wade

Architecture AND are currently completing a house on a dramatic site in the Tasman Peninsula. In contrast to the conventional tendency to spread a house laterally, a compact tower form was utilised. This provided a compact footprint, while reducing external wall and roof area to assist with the thermal performance of the building.

A suite of outdoor spaces are provided to encourage connection with the landscape. The undercroft provides a casual outdoor space with vegetation drifting into the space. A series of three balconies are subtracted from the form; east, west and north; providing a diversity of outlooks and capturing sunrise and sunset. The building is capped by a roof terrace, gaining panoramic views in all directions.

While the building has an apparently diagonal placement of the site, the logic of this is revealed on the roof terrace where the view between the heads is presented perpendicular to the building.

The tapering form is emphasised on the diagonal.