Specialists in master planning and the design of institutional and commercial premises, Jurg Hunziker and Michael Spight from TAG architects took on a challenge of a different kind
Specialists in master planning and the design of institutional and commercial premises, Jurg Hunziker and Michael Spight from TAG architects took on a challenge of a different kind when they were asked in 2001 to design a Yallingup holiday home with an oil and gas platform aesthetic.
So successful was their work that it won the architects the state’s top architecture award.
Designed on a steeply sloping block with a 10-metre height limitation, the house was placed to minimise impact on the site and maximise views.
“We used a lot of steel and glass, which was anchored back to a service core, and a key element of the design are the sliding sunscreen systems on the western façade, which can maximise the views and control the harsh western sun,” Mr Hunziker said.
“The client asked us to explore the notion that the project may in some way echo the construction and aesthetic of an offshore oil and gas platform, albeit it was clear from the stater that as a residence, the resultant building was to be slicker and more refined.”
He said some of the success from the project came from having an informed client, but also one who was able to trust the architects.
“The house has a very clean aesthetic and the internal planning is reasonably conventional and provides for generous living and sleeping areas zoned over two levels,” Mr Hunziker told WA Business News.
“The house can, in effect, operate more or less as a house over a house, with the two floors being virtually self contained.
“This house wasn’t designed for other people and gives the appearance of a much smaller structure from the street, and is difficult to view from the bottom of the block as well.”
The Yallingup house also recently won a Master Builders Association best country home award for its construction, making it one of the most highly awarded contract homes in WA.
Mr Hunziker and Mr Spight left architectural firm HASSELL to form TAG in 2001.
Projects they have been involved with include Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre, the FAL distribution centre in Canning Vale, the Panorama Apartments in the city, and Edith Cowan University’s new chancellery building, as well as ongoing projects at the Supreme Court and Bandyup and Bunbury prisons.
GEORGE TEMPLE POOLE award
Building
10 Wardanup Crescent, Yallingup.
Architects
TAG Architects
Innovest Construction (builder).
Jury comments
“The architects’ conceptual intentions are very clear and are revealed in a well crafted, aesthetically pleasing and sensible structure.”
