Rain Curtain House / Room11 Architects

Text description provided by the architects. As the name implies, this house is a celebration of a particular climate, of the glorious deluge of rainfall that one of the cleanest places on the planet can be subject.

The site is subject to twice as much rainfall as the city of Hobart, just seven minutes away. As withRoom11’s first house in Fern Tree, the highly awardedLittle Big House, Rain Curtain House’s conceptual point of departure begins with a frank assessment of the climatic challenges the site presents; FlameZone Classification, cold weather, high population of native animals, cloudy, claustrophobic but beautiful atmospheric conditions in winter and gusts of high wind.

The immediate context of the site is suburban and did not meet the client’s expectation for a sanctuary in the mountains. The experience from within the courtyard is of a private and open sanctuary, of light falling upon the organ pipes of beautiful Mt Wellington. Atranscendant connection that the users are reminded of each time they live the mundane rituals of dwelling in the home. As the courtyard becomes the catalyst for the overall design, it is also a place in which the residents can find solace and a space where the outside and the inside co-exist in harmony.

Room11 confronted a highly educated and learned client with expectations for performance that presented significant challenges to a standard project budget. Happily both their lifestyle and expectations met squarely with Director Thomas Bailey’sinterpretation of how to live well in this particular location. The building’s performance under extreme conditions and levels of comfort and raw data provided by the client is a testament to this achievement.

As with all Room11 projects, this building achieves its multifaceted and complex brief with a deft directness and simplicity that confounds the complexity of the problem put to the architects. Along with the experiential qualities from within and a relationship to the greater landform, the building is also an exemplary exponent of a high-performance residential building. Featuring hydronic heating, fully insulated sandwich panel concrete construction, fire mitigation technology, and Room11’s bespoke thermally broken double-glazed system.