Bill’s House by Tony Owen Partners

This contemporary two story residence all made of glass and concrete is located in Sydney, Australia.

Bill’s House by Tony Owen Partners:

“This house was designed for a client in Sydney’s inner west. The client is a concrete contractor who planned to build the house himself. As a result the house was designed to make maximum use of concrete and solid construction. Because of the client’s heritage, the design was influenced by the materials and forms of Mediterranean Architecture. The curved shell forms reflect the sails of the fishing boats from the Greek Islands. In addition the client does a lot of entertaining and wanted a house which maximized the connection to a large outdoor space.

The client’s brief was to create a unique and iconic home. This presented challenges as the site is situated in a fairly homogenous suburban location. As a result, the house has been designed as a series of blocks which modulate the scale and minimize the impact of the house to the surrounding areas. It consists of a series of different internal levels, which step up progressively from the street. The house is quite solid from the street and progressively opens up to be completely open to the rear. These changes in levels created an opportunity for the strongly stepped external massing as well as the complex interplay of the stairs in the central internal spaces.

The house has an ‘L-shaped’ configuration to maximize the solar aspect for the living spaces. There is also a central courtyard to the west which allows for light to penetrate the middle of the house and also serves to break up the massing of the facade.

A feature of the house is the large central staircase element. The original idea for this stair came from the James Bond movie ‘Never Say Never Again’. This stair adjoins the central courtyard so it is always bathed in light. The stair connects the various level changes in a single fluid sculptural element in dark polished concrete.