Pt.a Peninsula House

Peninsula House / Sean Godsell

As an Environmental Filter

The peninsula house is located in the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. A rather harsh area that is subjected to erratic storms and extreme heat. The site on which the house sits is a sandy dune with a small amount of native Australia trees and shrubs.
With the environment taken into account, Godsell selected resources that were common to the area and which had as little impact on the surroundings as possible.  A 30m x 7.2m oxidized steel portal structure has been embedded into the side of a sand dune. Godsell also stated that the house serves as an type of metaphor for the form and composition of the human body- exoskeleton which the weather controlling outer skin - operable timber shutters, glass roof and walls are all mounted.
 

As a Container of Human Activities

The house itself is the nurturing inner room, protected from the elements by a rigid outer structure. The simple programme of the house - a living/eating room, library and sleeping room forms the ‘endoskeleton’ of the building. The sleeping room is an inner room accessed by a private stair. These notions of inner room (moya) and enclosed verandah (hisashi) were explored in an earlier work (the Carter/ Tucker house) where the idea of fluid (aisle) space formed the basis of the design for that building. The interaction of the occupant between these two zones is enabled by one of the features of the house (the opening and closing of the façade).  

As a Delightful Experience

In this house the three primary spaces are different in dimension, volume and quality of light - the living room is very light, the bedroom is moderately light and the library is dark by comparison. The verandah has become further abstracted in this work to become the protective outer layer of the building.

There is no distinction in that sense between the function of the roof and the function of the walls.  The house itself is the nurturing inner room, protected from the elements by a coarse outer hide. The interplay of the occupant between these two elements activates the simple form of the building (by the opening and closing of the façade) and transforms it into an organic domain. This effect is further accentuated by the emptying and filling of the building with light, filtered through the timber screens, which maps the course of the day and the time of the year in the shape and extent of the shadows cast by the screens.