Austin McFarland Pty Ltd
2011 AIA NSW Blacket Prize – Hall and Library St Joseph’s Primary School, Wingham NSW 2011 AIA NSW Country Division Commendation Residential – Longyard Residence, Tamworth NSW 2011 WAN (World Architecture News) Effectiveness Award Long List – Hall and Library St Joseph’s Primary School, Wingham 2010 AIA NSW Country Division James Barnet Award – Hall and Library St Joseph’s Primary School, Wingham NSW 2010 AIA NSW Country Division Award Non Residential New – Hall and Library St Joseph’s Primary School, Wingham NSW 2010 AIA NSW Country Division Award Residential – Tallowwood Ridge House, Wingham NSW 2009 AIA NSW Country Division Award Residential – Bower House, Upper Manning Valley NSW
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Projects:
Hall + Library St Joseph’s Primary School
Wingham, 2010
The St Joseph’s Primary School, Wingham hall and library were built with the BER funding (Stage 1). A small school of around 90 students, there was no school hall and the school lacked street presence. The school’s library and canteen were cramped and outdated. With the funding the school wanted to address all of these issues while still achieving a high quality outcome and dynamic learning spaces. The architect, engineer and builder worked together on this project to ensure a quality outcome within a limited timeframe and budget. The building programs were driven by the need to create strong connections with the existing school buildings. Internal spaces are ordered by requirements for light, ventilation and visual connection to key external views and areas. The new buildings engage successfully with the church and school grounds both through careful material selection, locally sourced where possible and through careful siting. The two buildings now bookend one’s passage through the school with the hall acting as gateway and the library as terminus. The project fully met the programatic requirements of the clients but exceeded their expectations by providing dramatic and uplifting spaces.
Bower House
Upper Manning Valley, 2009
A sheltered platform, wedged into the steep slope just below the crest of a ridge and open on all sides to offer view lines to the surrounding peaks, outcrops and valleys. Bower House is a visually permeable structure that connects with its dramatic surroundings whilst always offering refuge as an option. Externally, a series of sliding metal shutters protect the building from fire and act to transform the building from an insulated metal bunker to a pavilion that nears complete openness. Internally, the living areas are contained within a single continuous space that opens theatrically to reveal the landscape beyond. The building is modest in both size and environmental impact, it is self sufficient in terms of energy, water and waste disposal and uses passive and active building systems provide thermal comfort. The client required a house that opens to the landscape whilst still providing physical and emotional warmth. The building is tuned and tunable to the needs of the client and to the cycles of its valley.
Tallowwood Ridge House
Wingham, NSW, 2009
The design for this house started as a process of thinking about of how we wanted to live. We required flexible spaces and rooms that could change functions over time. We desired dynamic connections between the inside and out but as the site was a corner block privacy to these outdoor spaces required careful consideration. The house is situated on a corner block and was designed to maximised the privacy of the internal and external spaces from both roads. The L shape design of the house, situated on the street frontages, acts as a retaining wall to create not only a level rear yard but to lift the internal floor height above the road level to create that sense of privacy. The plan of the house is simple but required careful consideration with regard to material selection and facade configuration to maximise views whilst minimising heat gain and maintaining privacy. Early in the design process we consulted together with the structural engineer and builder. This was a fluid design process which generated economic yet dynamic structural solutions. The sustainability of the building is addressed through the use of passive solar principles which determined the planning and material choices. Where possible materials were sourced locally. These local materials include the dry pressed bricks and hardwood timber.
