R+G House, Mindaribba, Australia
Family House on a Rural Property, Mindaribba, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. 1999.
Following on from the Four Horizons House, with the double or 'fly' roof, and using a standard agricultural shed frame, this house, built on a rural property, used a standard 'Colorpanel' 26˚pitch steel frame system made in Molong, NSW. The 300mm deep truss roof was used to create a double roof with a 300mm ventilated air gap between the upper roof and the lower sub-roof, with a curved sheet steel ridge vent, thus knocking out the the heat gain of the sun on the top roof. The clients were keen to combine this with 'rammed earth' construction on the lower walls, for thermal mass associated with an on-ground concrete lower floor. Steel water tanks and corrugated steel cladding combined with the corrugated steel roof, to create a rural 'vernacular'. External roller blinds and pivoting light steel framed 'trampoline' screens were used to shade the thermal mass, and to protect the rammed earth walls, which were prone to some damp absorption when exposed to driving rain from the south.
