Built in the bush, this collection of architect-designed houses responds to rigorous bushfire safety standards with scrutiny and creativity, exploring ways of living safely and sustainably in the unforgiving Australian landscape.
Externally, the house is clad in non-combustible cement sheet and steel balustrades.
In Australia, the beauty and appeal of living in the bush often goes hand in hand with our country’s vulnerability to bushfire. It is common for sites that enjoy an immediate connection to nature to be intertwined with conditions that contribute to higher bushfire ratings and remote service requirements, such as water supply and waste treatment with effluent fields.
Safety is paramount on sites with high bushfire ratings. In addition to the bushfire management requirements associated with emergency access and water supply, which may determine whether a site can safely accommodate a dwelling, Australia uses a stringent and continually evolving six-tier rating system, the Bushfire Attack Level (BAL). The BAL system determines to what degree a site is at risk of bushfire attack and, depending on the risk, the type of construction required to obtain a building permit. Risk factors that determine the BAL rating include the slope of the land and the type of – and proximity to – vegetation. These complex requirements lead to challenging tussles in the design process, which can conventionally result in cleared vegetation or banal dwellings layered with costly fire-resistant elements. But it is possible to meet the relevant building codes while also providing the best design outcomes for the occupants and a connection to the site, within a restrained budget.
Three recent architect-designed houses demonstrate that an integrated design approach within these restrictions can produce delightful responses that are distinctly connected to their respective high-bushfire-risk sites. In each case, the combined restraints forced the dwelling into a specific location. In New South Wales’s Blue Mountains, a previously approved permit deemed that Anderson Architecture could only build its own research project on a small, cleared and relatively flat zone of the eight-acre site, assessed as a combination of BAL 40 (very high risk) and BAL FZ (Flame Zone or extreme risk). Creating an off-grid dwelling, the practice produced an environmentally sensitive bush retreat where all services operate off the grid – including water supply for fire use. The small number of removed trees were salvaged for use in the home’s interior structure and joinery.
Barnacle Studio’s Sprout House has a corrugated steel and brick exterior.
Barnacle Studio explored a number of properties with its clients before landing on a site in Coledale, New South Wales. The footprint of Sprout House was restrained by the rating’s stipulation for “defendable space to all boundaries” and the need to avoid slippage toward a gully to the south, while balancing solar access to the north. Its final location required that it meet a combination of BAL 40 and BAL FZ ratings.
In Victoria, Matt Goodman Architecture Office (MGAO) was providing pro bono services to residents who had lost their homes in the 2015 Wye River summer fires. Wye River House (rated BAL 40) is located on a small, steep site overlooking the Great Southern Ocean. Once essential services such as the effluent field and access and tanks for emergency services were provided, a thin strip of land was left on which to develop the three-bedroom dwelling with attached one-bedroom studio.
Wye River House adopts the simplicity of the beach shack vernacular and adapts it to meet bushfire standards.
All three projects are compact buildings with small footprints that retain as much of the natural environment as possible. Designs that reduce junctions and unnecessary eaves have resulted in a similar language of solid forms. However, strategic moves reconnect each house to its particular landscape. Both MGAO and Barnacle Studio stacked the program vertically and carefully located cut-outs in the form to connect principal living spaces to the context. At Wye River, two cut-outs provide a secondary entry and a semi-enclosed dining deck, accessible to both southerly ocean views and northern sunlight. At Coledale, a cut-out to the corner of the building connects the living spaces to a deck hovering above the landscape, while another forms the integrated carport. In contrast, Off Grid FZ House is on a single level with two separate pavilions: one for living, the other for sleeping and amenities. Simple roof forms reduce details and hinder potential ember ingress – a common threat during bushfires. Reminiscent of the traditional shack, skillion roofs offer both efficiency and practicality: gutters collect rainwater to a singular connection and are located to ease cleaning. At Off Grid FZ House, the steeply pitched roofs also discourage leaves from accumulating, while optimizing the performance of solar panels.
Operable metal screens provide bushfire protection for the windows of Off Grid FZ House.
These restrained forms lend themselves to tightly layered skins of fire-retardant materials. Both Wye River House and Sprout House are constructed in traditional timber frame, a decision made for cost-effectiveness and ease of site access. The resistance to fire then focused on non-combustible materials in muted tones that are sympathetic to their context. MGAO and its clients agreed on the appropriation of the shack vernacular common to Wye River, selecting a contemporary prefinished cement sheet cladding. Combined with the anodized aluminium windows and steel-framed deck and balustrade, the result is a simple and casual palette. Barnacle Studio used a combination of materials, including dark Colorbond sheeting, that allows the building to recede into the landscape. The non-combustible sheeting was layered with fire-retardant materials to meet the requirements of the BAL FZ rating. In contrast, Anderson Architecture explored the use of concrete structural walls with an additional layer of fire-resistant cement sheet cladding.
Windows present a particular challenge and, within the restrained budget, must be carefully considered to provide connection to the site while maintaining bushfire protection. In each house, BAL 40 or BAL FZ-rated windows are strategically located and sized, often with raised sills. Anderson Architecture used custom-made, operable metal screens to protect windows and doors (developed prior to an upgrade in regulations).
Each of these designs provides a compelling, lighter-weight alternative to the bunker-like, in-ground house or the courtyard model. The simplicity of their built forms belies the onerous detailing that is required to meet the fire regulations, and that has also resulted in excellent thermal performance. They demonstrate that good analysis and research undertaken early in the design process can lead to well-designed, cost-effective housing in bushfire zones. They also illustrate that it is possible to respond to regulations while providing ways to live safely and sustainably with the Australian landscape.
Published online: 18 Mar 2022 Words: Kim Irons Images: Nick Bowers, Paul Hermes, Tom Ferguson
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Ivanhoe East House by Pop Architecture is an interior alteration on an original 1950s home first designed by Hipwell Weight and Mason.
Externally, the house is clad in non-combustible cement sheet and steel balustrades.
Wye River House adopts the simplicity of the beach shack vernacular and adapts it to meet bushfire standards.
Operable metal screens provide bushfire protection for the windows of Off Grid FZ House.
Anderson Architecture’s Off Grid FZ House is a zero-emissions home built to meet extreme fire risk.
Timber from trees removed to meet bushfire regulations was reused in the house.
Barnacle Studio’s Sprout House has a corrugated steel and brick exterior.
The design meets a combination of very high and extreme fire ratings.
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