Mapping the Edge An analysis of regional responses in the Queensland house Thesis submitted for Masters of Philosophy Supervised by Professor Brit Andresen School of Geography Planning and Architecture University of Queensland Elizabeth Anne Musgrave Bachelor of Design Studies UQ Bachelor of Architecture (Hons) UQ April 2005 The work presented in this thesis is to the best of my knowledge and belief, original and my own work, except as acknowledged in the text. The material contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted, either in whole or in part, for a degree at this or any other university. Mapping the Edge: An analysis of regional responses in the Queensland house Acknowledgements I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Professor Brit Andresen. Her guidance and support has been invaluable to me. The encouragement of the staff of the Department of Architecture is also appreciated, especially Mr Peter Skinner, Professor Michael Keniger, and Dr Antony Moulis who gave time to read and critically review thesis drafts. I am greatly indebted to Kaylee Wilson for her sound advice and her generous and patient work in helping me edit this work. Finally I must thank my husband John Price and my children, Jack, Rebecca and Megan who have offered encouragement over many years. Except where noted otherwise, diagrams and photographs are by the author. Measured drawings of the Newmarket and Jacobi Houses were initially made as part of an earlier measured drawing project involving the documentation of six Late Modern houses. This earlier study was funded by a University of Queensland, New Staff Research Grant. Research assistants who helped in the preparation of drawings that are used here and that formed part of this earlier project include Jon Wharton, Matthew Stafford, and Kerrie Campbell. Karen Reid has provided assistance with the preparation of the additional measured drawings required for this thesis project. I am very grateful to the owners of the houses documented here, for allowing me access to their homes; Michael Scott and Gabrielle Smith, Christine Maher and Eddie Scuderi, Robert and Roshni Price, Rex and Susan Addison. I am also grateful to architects Campbell Scott, Robert Riddel and Rex Addison for sharing their time and their wealth of knowledge with me. i Abstract This thesis investigates the regionalist response of the detached ‘Queensland’ house through an analysis of house and garden in architect-designed work belonging to the 20th century. It involves the detailed documentation of three architect-designed houses and their gardens and an analysis of the interactions created between house, garden and wider context and set up through design at the building edge. Interactions between a work of architecture and its context are an indication of regionalist thinking. A wide range of interactions can arise as a consequence of the particular ordering of ideas and principles in processes of architectural design. Evidence of ideas and principles ordering a work are revealed at the building edge where issues of form and expression, and space, its enclosure and occupation are negotiated and resolved. In this study describing the configuration of material, form and space at the building edge and mapping the outcomes of relationships created by these configurations provides the means to measure and to draw conclusions about the regional response of the detached house in South- East Queensland. The houses selected to be documented and analysed, belong to three different periods in the 20th century and have been associated with particular architectural Movements marked by an interest in context that is held in principles declared in texts and manifestos. These Movements include the Arts and Crafts Movement, Late Modernism, and Critical Regionalism. Analysing built work against architectural principles belonging to Movements of the time provides a means of accounting for the interweaving of local practice and international themes. Analysis will reveal how architects working through these Movements have recognised and responded to opportunities for making a responsive architecture. In doing so it will provide a means to isolate and describe the characteristics of a responsive architecture in South-East Queensland. Conversely it also provides a means of locating key elements of South-East Queensland’s domestic architecture in relation to developments in theory and discourse that have occurred internationally. This project links fields of architectural history, theory and technology. It brings together two themes in history and design in relation to the architecture of South East Queensland: the search for an appropriate form of architecture for South-East Queensland, and an investigation of the relationship between the formal and experiential aspects of the edge of Queensland houses. Finally, the mapping of the edges of three case studies located in one place, provides a means for uncovering something about the way practice, working through principles and ideas, contributes to an architectural continuum. ii Mapping the Edge: An analysis of regional responses in the Queensland house Contents Acknowledgments i Abstract ii Contents iii Illustrations v Introduction 1 The Detached House and Garden Regionalist thinking Methodology: Mapping Organization of Thesis Part A 1. Architectural Movements and Regionalist thinking 17 1.1 Arts and Crafts 19 1.2 Late Modernism 23 1.3 Critical Regionalism 28 1.4 Conclusion 32 2. Architectures’ responsiveness 33 2.1 The Edge: Articulating relationships 34 2.2 The Edge: Establishing alignment and orientation 42 2.3 The edge of the Queensland House 46 3. The Survey and the Map 57 3.1 The Survey 58 3.2 Mapping 65 Part B 4. Mapping built work: Arts and Crafts: Analysis of House for Mrs. Marks (c 1900) Robin Dods, Architect 77 4.1 Background: The theoretical context for practice 77 4.2 House for Mrs Marks: Formal Expression 80 4.3 The Edge 82 4.4 Conclusion 85 5. Mapping built work: Late Modernism: Analysis of Jacobi House (1957) Hayes and Scott, Architects 87 5.1 Background: The theoretical context for practice 87 5.2 Background: Late Modernism in Australia 88 5.3 Background: Late Modernism in South-East Queensland 89 5.4 The Jacobi House: Formal Expression 91 5.5 The Edge: Mediating inside/outside 94 5.6 Conclusion 96 iii 6. Mapping built work: Critical Regionalism: 97 Analysis of House at McCaul Street, Taringa (1998) Rex Addison, Architect. 6.1 Background: The theoretical context for practice 97 6.2 Organization of Program: Formal Expression 99 6.3 The Edge 103 6.4 Mediating inside/outside relationships 104 6.5 Conclusion 105 Discussion and Conclusions 107 Bibliography 113 Appendices 120 Measured drawings A. “Carhue” 42 Gaunt Street, Newmarket B. House for Mrs Marks, New Farm, Robin Dods Architect C. Jacobi House, Indooroopilly, Hayes and Scott Architects D. House at McCaul Street, Taringa, Rex Addison Architect iv Mapping the Edge: An analysis of regional responses in the Queensland house Illustrations Detail. Linocut by Rex Addison. Reproduced from Susan Addison Mother Lode. “A winding down ritual…” Bathing at the edge, 262. title page Part A Photograph: Eastern Veranda, Chadwick House (1904) Harold Desbrowe-Annear Architect. Photograph by Patrick Bingham-Hall Reproduced from Guy Allenby, Eight Great Houses, 124 page 15 Figures 1. Measured Drawing: “Carhue” Street Elevation 48 42 Gaunt Street Newmarket 2. Brisbane City Council Drainage Plan, New Farm 48 3. Measured Drawing: “Carhue” Longitudinal section 50 4. Measured Drawing: “Carhue” Section Front veranda 50 5. Diagram: Locating house core in relation to edge zones 51 6. Diagram: Interactions with site 51 7. Surveying with the Horizon 60 Cosimo Bartoli from Del modo di misurare, 1564. 8. Sketch: ‘With Durafour across the Atlas (Algiers – Ghardia), March 18, 1933. 61 Le Corbusier . 9. Photograph: ‘Here a water-hole; nomad’s outpost (strategy)’ 62 Le Corbusier 10. Sketch: A Moroccan Village 63 11. Sketch: Morocco. Sverre Fehn, 1952 64 12. Cheney House (1904) 73 13. Robie House (1909) Diagrammatic section showing sight lines. 73 Part B. 14. Measured drawing: Elevation Mrs Marks House, Robin Dods, Architect Abbott Street, New Farm 80 15. Measured drawing: Section Front Veranda, Mrs Marks House, New Farm 80 16. Photograph: Dods’ House, New Farm, 1919. Built 1900. demolished 1970. 80 17. Plan and topographic section. Mrs Marks House and streetscape context 81 18. Diagram: Locating house core in relation to edge zones Dods House and Mrs Marks House Abbott Street, New Farm 81 19. Diagram: Entry sequence. Dods house and Mrs Marks House 82 20. Diagram: Interactions with site. Dods house and Mrs Marks House 82 v 21. Diagram: Plan and section. Relationship between plate lines and zones within the veranda edge, Mrs Marks House 83 22. Diagram: Zones at the building edges of the Dods and Mrs Marks Houses 83 23. Sketch Robin Boyd, Reproduced from Boyd’s The Walls Around Us 90 24. Photograph: Speare House, Dalton and Heathwood Architecture Reproduced from Buildings of Queensland 90 25. Photograph: Jacobi House, Reproduced from Buildings of Queensland 90 26. Measured Drawing: Elevation Jacobi House 91 27. Photograph: Approach view of the Jacobi House 91 28. Photograph: Veranda 91 29. Plan and topographic section. Jacobi House and context 92 30. Diagram: Relationship of house core to edge zones 92 31. Diagram: Entry sequence path and associated views 93 32. Measured Drawing: Detail section of Building edge, Jacobi House 95 33. Diagram: Section showing zones at building edge. 95 34. Plan and topographical section McCaul Street house and its context 99 35. Presentation Drawings: Plans and Longitudinal section of McCaul St. house Taringa, Drawn by Rex Addison, Architect. 100 36. Photograph: McCaul Street house, Taringa. Rex Addison Architect. 100 37. Diagram: Relationship of core and edge zones in McCaul Street house 101 38. Diagram: Plan and section. Relationship between roof forms and zones of occupation within the building edge of first floor, McCaul Street house 101 39.