Terroir

Neighbourhood playground

Architects arguably don’t have the power to “change the fundamental desires of the Australian population to live in the suburbs in houses of ever-increasing scale”, but they can drive subtle transformations by stealth, says architect Scott Balmforth of Terroir in Hobart.

“We’ve tried to catapult ourselves into the project home area, where the majority of Australians are operating, and to look at ways of improving upon that offering,” he explains. “We chose to work on the project home from within the system rather than suggesting alternative versions to it.”

Terroir took the dimensions of a typical project home as his starting point, and identified its essential rooms, before reconfiguring the interior to repurpose “leftover” spaces for interaction and play. These internal streets take the place of the wider neighbourhood – the creeks, trees and bushland – that Balmforth remembers freely roaming when he was younger.

“These memories of summer evenings playing cricket on the street have given way to desolate streets where all activity occurs inside the ever-increasing project home,” he says. “Neighbours no longer have an easy contact given the privacy of current housing types and children are never seen on the street. The car reigns supreme and some suburbs now do not even have footpaths.”

Terroir’s all-brick house is designed to slot easily into the existing suburban fabric, and it contains traditional-style bedrooms, living areas and relaxation zones that family members can retreat to. The main difference is in the circulation spaces which provide myriad opportunities for unstructured activities: adults meet and chat, children climb stairs and slide down firemen’s poles, or run around and kick balls, without fear of damaging the fittings or furniture.

The concept was partly inspired by Terroir’s work on a variety of houses – where internal public spaces have been “carved” from contrasting mute exteriors – and including Balmforth’s experience of living in a converted warehouse, which provides a safe and secure backdrop for unstructured play for his children and their friends.

“A family can use these continuous circulation spaces in different ways, and retreat into the essential spaces,” he says. “Brick is the ideal material to delineate between the two, because the retreat spaces could be constructed with glazed bricks, while the open play area is more robust and can be easily brushed down and cleaned.

“The robustness of brick takes away the preciousness of some suburban housing and we like its ability to be used on all types of surfaces,” he adds. “Brick is also a very playful material, which makes for a very strong coupling in this scenario.”

So while the house takes on many of the characteristics of its neighbours – acknowledging that most people are looking for similar things – it’s potential for interaction and recreation sets it well apart from conventional suburban housing. “The crude exterior shape holds a wondrous internal space that is functional in terms of the number of bedrooms it contains, and the flow of living areas that open into each other, but it offers so much more in terms of flexibility of use, and opportunities for play, which are real for adults as well as children,” Balmforth says.