Gantry House Newport, Victoria Modern Family Home, Architecture, Melbourne Real Estate Photos
Gantry House in Newport
20 Jan 2022
Design: OOF! architecture
Location: Newport, Victoria, Australia
Photos by Tatjana Plitt
Gantry House is the home of a builder, a dietician, their 3 sons and 2 dogs who needed to grow their sweet, but cramped, weatherboard cottage to accommodate their growing family and 21st century lives. They needed room to work – both parents work from home – and room to live with space to be together, to be by yourself and to share with family + friends.
Gantry House in Newport, Victoria
Their new home is a house/warehouse/workshop to enjoy doing and collecting of all sorts – pot plants, art, toys and dogs, gardening/farming, building, cooking, and op-shop treasures. This is a robust and easy going home for busy, independent people who are always making or doing something indoors and out.
The construction of the house itself with its revealed structure, raw materials, exposed fixings and other fine construction details demonstrate the skills of the people who built it – including the family themselves – and their highly skilled tradie friends.
What was the brief?
Gantry House is the home of a builder, a dietician, their 3 sons and 2 dogs. They needed to grow their sweet, but now cramped, weatherboard cottage to accommodate a growing family and 21st century lives.
Their space requirements were:
– 5 bedrooms (4 for family + 1 guest) and 1 home office
– Room to work – both parents work from home
– Room to live – space to be together, to be by yourself and to share with family + friends.
The client’s goals for the house:
– Robust and easy going home to accommodate activities and collections
– Living inside and outside at the same time
– A home for busy, independent people who are always making or doing something
– No time to be carefully managing pristine spaces
What were the key challenges?
As one of the clients is a builder, there was huge flexibility to re-consider and evolve many ideas and details on site during construction – which was a blessing and a curse! Also, a builder’s own house is the last project in line after all other clients’ projects. As a result, work happened in fits and starts over a long construction period of 2+ years.
The above factors required us to think fast on our feet but allowed continual tweaking throughout the build to tailor the house to the family
What were the solutions?
Gantry House is designed to be a house/warehouse/workshop for the family to enjoy doing and collecting of all sorts – pot plants, toys and dogs, art, food, cooking, and op-shop treasures.
All the shared activities of the house are open to each other but gently screened so the family can have their own spaces and yet still be together. eg:
– Split level arrangement makes moving around the house a part of the one main space with the stairs and the 1st floor “gantry” accessway in the trusses over the living areas
– The kitchen pantry provides storage and workspace while its openness allows it to be the central control station of the house
– Dogs come and go through their custom built “dog tunnel” to the backyard
Spaces throughout the house provide opportunities to use + see the family’s favourite things. eg:
– Open pantry shelves in the kitchen display impressive food storage and fine carpentry skills
– Shelves, nooks + planter boxes inside and out to enjoy their favourite plants
– Vintage finds are built into the house – an old ice cream sign lights the dining room and a train station clock tells the time in the kitchen
The construction of the house itself is also a source of enjoyment as its revealed structure, raw materials, exposed fixings and other virtuoso construction details demonstrate the skills of all the people who built it – including the family themselves – and their highly skilled tradie friends.
How is the project unique?
As the client was a builder, they saw their house as an opportunity to be adventurous and ambitious in design and construction. The client’s exceptional skills are evident everywhere along with the fine craftsmanship of his trades. eg:
– Oven + Fireplace: These dual hearts of the home were decided before anything else and the design of the whole house grew from and around them.
– Furniture grade timber and folded perforated steel stairs and gantry walkway
– Custom steelwork including open trusses and the kitchen “paddlepop” rangehood
– Standing seam cladding on the main bedroom box that floats from inside to outside
– Superb carpentry, roof plumbing, tiling, joinery and other outstanding work seen and unseen
– Oversized sliding/stacking doors that open the whole ground floor to the backyard
What are the sustainability features?
– Reverse brick veneer construction of recycled red bricks is used to provide superior thermal performance as well as being evocative of the old warehouses loved by the clients
– North facing clerestory windows provide natural light into the central spine of the house all day, all year
– Ventilation: Natural cross ventilation is provided throughout with clerestory windows vertically venting warm air from the house in summer
– Heating: Hydronic heating system with ceiling fans (winter mode) and high efficiency fireplace
– Cooling: No AC. Ceiling fans (summer mode)
– All walls and roofs are highly insulated
– All new windows are timber framed double glazed and draft sealed
– Water Use: High water efficiency sanitary and tapware is used throughout. Rainwater is collected from the roof and stored in vertical tanks in the side yard
– Future Install: Large, clear north facing roof area ready for solar hot water + PV panels (stage 2)
Gantry House in Newport, Melbourne, Victoria – Building Information
Architects: OOF! architecture – https://www.oof.net.au
Builder: Complete Builders Insight
Building Surveyor: Anthony Middling & Associates
Joinery: Luna Joinery
Roofing + Cladding: JTK Metal Craft
Doors + Windows: Aspect Windows
Tiling: Synergy Tiling
Steel Trusses: MKM Structural Steel
Electritian: Linked Electrical Services
Location: Newport, Victoria, Australia
Project size: 260 sqm
Site size: 595 sqm
Project Budget: $850000
Completion date: 2019
Building levels: 2
Photography credit: Tatjana Plitt
Gantry House, Newport, Victoria, design images / information received 200122
Location: Newport, Victoria, Australia
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