HOUSE, WYE RIVER, AUSTRALIA

architect
Bellemo & Cat

Seen from afar, this extraordinary holiday house looks like a Zeppelin crash-landed in the Australian bush. Clinging to a precipitous slope, the curved capsule seems improbably fragile, like a giant insect cocoon lodged among the trees. Designed by the Melbournebased architect/artist partnership of Michael Bellemo and Cat MacLeod for their own recreational use, the house is a surreal presence in the thickly wooded coastal landscape of south-west Victoria. Holiday homes abound in this area, but the blimp house is a highly personal, poetic and practical response to the challenges of terrain and environment. The steep, isolated site is prone to landslip and the climate is often cold and windy. Clad in a ribbed skin of gull-grey steel shingles, the house cocoon is wedged precariously into the hillside, its aerodynamic form calculated to minimise wind resistance. Six spindly legs of galvanised steel support its bulk, so it appears to hover weightlessly above the steeply sloping ground. A gangplank at one end connects it with a small barbecue area and a winding approach track. Within the bulbous metal carapace, a plywood-lined box houses the main living and dining spaces which face south towards a ridge of hills and the oceanbeyond. Here, the long side of the cocoon has been squared off and glazed to create a huge vitrine and cantilevered terrace,maximising light and views.Inside, the spaces dovetail together with the economic precision of a small boat or caravan. The main bedroom is tucked into the cocoon’s snout forming a snug sleeping burrow, perforated by narrow skylights. Bunk beds for children and a bathroom lined with translucent green resin, are slotted in next door. The kitchen runs along the long north side of the main living and dining space. The pine plywood lining has been coated with limewash, to prevent it turning orange. Though its orientation means that sun from the north is largely cut off by the trees, the house is warmed by an open fireplace and is highly insulated. The lightweight monocoque structure is a hybrid of techniques appropriated from boat building and aircraft engineering. The internal rigid rectangular box was built first and plywood ribs added to generate the basic cocoon shape. Green hardwood battens were then attached to the ribs, forming fixing points for the narrow steel shingles. Like a woven basket, the meshing together of the various elements – ribs, battens and shingles – creates a strong, stable, composite structure. Details were often resolved on-site, so the whole construction has a rustic, makeshift air. Though undoubtedly a challenge to design and build, the outcome is a delight – an antipodean primitive hut for the twenty-first century.