Slab & Steel

April 4, 2014March 1, 2015Leave a comment

The last few months have been an amazing experience as we witnessed the early stages of construction of THE SHED. From watching the pouring of our giant slab and the meticulous work of our concreters, to the touch and go placement of the enormous steel ‘A’ frames that would form the ‘backbone’ of THE SHED and the galvanised steel purlins that would form the ‘skeleton’. There was a lot at stake as all these elements would ultimately be exposed and a main feature of THE SHED, true to industrial architecture.

Ready, Set, Build

February 10, 2014March 1, 20152 Comments

Day One: the digger is a diggin’
Super excited to see excavation work start today, (not so happy to see our beautiful green grass getting ripped up!) … so the ground can be levelled in preparation for the 33 x 6 metre concrete slab.

Day One: digging

Alexander (Michael) The Great

September 15, 2013March 1, 2015Leave a comment

I never forgot a house I saw featured in Vogue Living Australia about 8 years ago … it was a weekender perched on the very picturesque escarpment in Kangaroo Valley, NSW. Of course, I didn’t still have the original issue but scanned my memory for enough info to feed into Google and lucky for me I found the details of architect Alexander Michael. Looking at his magnificent past work and knowing my house building budget (meagre!!) it was with trepidation I called Alexander for a chat about the possibilities of working together….
After a 30 minute chat I knew we had found our guy … the Kangaroo Valley house was designed by Alexander for himself and his partner as a weekend escape and completed in 2005. Alexander’s extensive use of concrete, steel, glass and wood plus his obsession with adapting commercial and industrial items for use in a domestic setting meant a result would never be “suburban” (Alex’s favoured term). A weekender with a difference …simple, light and robust!

Here are some picture taken from Alexander Michael’s website siloboy.com and here is the full article on his Kangaroo Valley Retreat.

Kangaroo Valley Escape by Alexander Michael Architect

Exterior – tanks

Kitchen view

Dining

Ironbark and gal steel columns

Bedroom Pods

Cast Iron Basin

Kangaroo Valley evenings

simple, light and robust…

August 30, 2013May 10, 2014Leave a comment

These were our first thoughts about the kind of weekender we wanted to build.
Simple – a fuss free space, large open living spaces, focus on the outdoors and view
Light – in terms of the houses footprint and the fantastic North aspect
Robust – nothing too precious and everything hard wearing. It’s all about the great escape, walk in RELAX, invite friend and family RELAX, leave feeling RELAXED!

Oh yes and affordable!