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Moebius House Sydney

Residential Development New South Wales, Australia – design by Tony Owen Partners

22 Jan 2010

Moebius House

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Design: Tony Owen Partners

This family house faces onto views of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The house explores the maximisation of light, space, ventilation and views on a tight sight. We are exploring a more environmentally sensitive form of design called ‘micro design’. Micro design utilises parametric modelling software which can respond to very small changes to design input criteria. In this case issues such as maximising ventilation, views and efficiency of structure and minimising impacts to neighbours views and overshadowing were the key design criteria.

The unique form is a response to the requirements to maintain view and solar corridors.
We started by responding to the site with a series of movements which folded and twisted the space in order to maximise the changes of level, view opportunities and potential for connectivity to outside spaces at various ground planes. We created a dynamic model capable of responding to changes in these variables and allowed the models to run in real time. We then stopped the model when we felt we had a model which satisfied our concerns.
The house has a fluidity of space which is a direct result of having a strong relationship with the surrounding landscape.

Automotive Assembly Process

Due to the complex geometry of this house and the need for such fine tolerances, we had to evolve a completely new system of fabrication and assembly for this house.
We started off designing a house, but in the end the construction process more closely resembles that of a car.
Early on it became apparent that this house would have to be detailed and documented entirely in 3 dimensions. The steel frame house is clad in metal panels which were pre-cut in China.
In a traditional house the floor and walls are built first and the roof is added. The Moebius House is being assembled around a chasis like a car would be.