Villa Marittima

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The Villa Marittima is a house built in 2014 and awarded for its eye-catching architecture in St. Andrews Beach in the Australian state of Victoria . The building was designed by Robin Williams Architect .

location

The 900-inhabitant village of St. Andrews Beach is located on the Mornington Peninsula southeast of Melbourne in Southeast Australia. The Bass Strait , the strait between Tasmania and mainland Australia, runs southwest . The Mornington Peninsula National Park extends around St. Andrews Beach . Villa Marittima is located between Ocean Drive, which runs seaward along the coast, and Constantine Avenue, which runs parallel to it in the northeast. The house is separated from the water by a 200 m wide strip of bushland belonging to the national park. In the immediate vicinity there are two other award-winning houses, both called "St Andrews Beach House"; one by the Australian architect Sean Godsell , the other by Fender Katsalidis .

history

Melbourne architect Robin Williams bought the property in 1988. A fibro shack , a classic Australian beach house that served Williams as a seaside weekend home , stood on it for 26 years .

The architect began designing a new building on the property in 2004. The Villa Marittima was designed as a residential building with the character of a beach house. Williams wanted the house to be light and spacious, with a good view of the beach and the ocean, and based on some concepts of contemporary Japanese architecture. The idea of using polycarbonate as a material for the walls came to him after visiting the Laban Dance Center in London, which uses similar materials.

The construction was completed in 2014. The Villa Marittima is inhabited by Robin Williams and his partner Donald Cant, an opera singer.

style

The Villa Marittima is attributed to the architectural style of minimalism because of its simple and clear design language . The living space is 294 m², the property is approx. 1000 m².

The entrance to the house is lined with tea trees. The house initially presents itself to the visitor as a uniform wall made of polycarbonate. Behind a garage-like entrance sliding door, a kind of corridor runs upwards towards the inside of the house. At the end of this path, on the middle level of the house, there is a large view of the ocean. This construction should simulate climbing a dune . Almost all the outer walls of the house are made of semi-transparent polycarbonate, which, in combination with the different colored lighting of individual rooms, gives the house the look of a colorful lantern at night, while during the day a diffuse light falls into the rooms. Steel girders form the frame for the polycarbonate surfaces.

There are no conventional rooms in the house. All devices, including functional units such as the kitchen, bathroom, office or library, are hidden in the walls and can be pulled out and lowered again if necessary. Almost all walls can be moved so that on the one hand areas open outwards, especially in summer, but on the other hand parts of the upper level can also be subdivided into rooms. With minor modifications, individual areas can be used as living rooms, bedrooms or offices. One of these areas is a terrace-like area in the middle of the house, called a “salon”, with folding window fronts on two sides, which opens to the north-east to the pool and to the south-west to the sea. The lighting in this “living room” is housed in the floor, so that the ceiling forms a completely free area; this lighting system was also used in the entrance hall. All floors are cast from concrete and include underfloor heating.

A key part of the house is the uncovered pool, which is located on the upper of the two levels of the building. It can be seen from the lower level through a large pane of glass; Through direct sunlight that changes during the day and artificial lighting in the evening and at night, the lower level, which serves as a guest room that can be entered separately, is immersed in a constantly changing play of colors. A narrow, submerged footbridge leads across the pool to an outside staircase that leads to the roof terrace. The roof terrace rises towards the ocean and repeats the dune motif of the entrance area.

reception

The Australian architecture magazine ArchitectureAU highlighted stylistic minimalism as the guiding concept of house design. Visiting the house is like exploring an “interactive work of art”. The US magazine Curbed described the house as light, airy, pleasantly minimalist and a “retreat from everyday life”. The jury of the Australian National Architecture Award justified their award in 2015 by saying that the Villa Marittima was “an experiment that is as bizarre as it is enjoyable in living in a work of art. (...) (She) celebrates the possibilities that architecture offers as an art form. ”The British Wallpaper magazine ruled that architect Williams, in an effort to maintain design purity, hid everything behind the polycarbonate walls that you would normally find in an apartment would associate. Due to the semi-transparent walls, the Villa Marittima is more like “a dazzling, transparent lighthouse than a typical Australian beach house”, and it is “a transparent triumph”. An episode of the Australian design show Man About The House with comedian and TV presenter Tim Ross was dedicated to the house in 2017 . In the announcement, the building was described as a “masterpiece of a minimalist way of life” and a “work of art with surprising materials”.

Awards

The architectural office won several awards for the design and realization of the Villa Marittima:

  • Architecture Award of the Australian Institute of Architects in the category "Residential Architecture - Houses (New)"
  • People's Choice Award from the Australian Institute of Architects
  • Architecture Award from the Institute of Architects of the State of Victoria in the category "Residential Architecture - Houses (New)"
  • "Honorable Mention" at the Houses Award of the Australian Houses magazine in the category "New House over 200m²"
  • Shortlist of the World Architecture Festival 2016 in the category "Houses"
  • Awarded "Pool of the Year" by the Australian Swimming Pool and Spa Association (SPASA) 2015

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nine.com.au: Inside Australia's most incredible color-changing beach house. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  2. ↑ In My House (blog): Just What Is A Fibro Shack? Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  3. ↑ ABC.net.au: What's behind the rise of minimalist living? Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c ArchitectureAU.com: The art of minimalist living: Villa Marittima. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  5. ^ Architecture.org.au: Melbourne At Home With the Architect Explores the Mornington Peninsula. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  6. ↑ ArchitectureAU.com: Australia's favorite house: Villa Marittima wins People's Choice Award. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Curbed.com: Seaside Stunner in Australia Offers Translucent, Transportive Escape. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  8. ^ A b ArchitectureAU.com: 2015 National Architecture Awards: Residential - Houses (New). Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Wallpaper.com: Clear winner: an Australian beach house is a translucent triumph. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  10. ↑ TheManAboutTheHouse.net: Man About The Villa Marittima House by Robin Williams - Sunday, December 3, 3:00 pm. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  11. ^ ArchitectureAU.com: 2015 Victorian Architecture Awards. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  12. ↑ HousesAwards.com.au: 2015 Awards Gallery. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  13. ↑ BBC.com: World Architecture Festival shortlist. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .

Coordinates: 38 ° 25 ′ 28.2 ″  S , 144 ° 50 ′ 3.3 ″  E