Architects Studio / Mode Design Corporation

When the owners of Batchelor Pad initially approached Architects Studio/Mode Design Corporation with a brief that called for an all-new, architect-designed house with a budget of only $160, 000, the architects were doubtful. Producing a house that was livable, sustainable and even beautiful for such a tiny sum was, surely, impossible? But to their great credit, they swallowed their skepticism and set about rising to the challenge: producing a low-budget house that embodied the good design, inventive problem-solving and environmental awareness characteristic of quality architect-designed buildings.

Located in the Top-End town of Batchelor (hence the quirky spelling), the final resolution of the building is open, light and informal, a comfortable space firmly invested in the design traditions and lifestyle of tropical Australia. It’s the kind of house that Territorians covet, designed to move air and capture light, immune to both the sweltering heat of the dry season and the pouring rains of the wet. It slips into the flourishing tropical garden that surrounds it and extends into generous verandahs on either side. Inside and outside articulate into each other with a fluency that encourages outdoor living while offering shelter from its worst ravages.

Underpinning this characteristically Northern-Australian design is a backto- basics aesthetic that made extensive savings possible. The building is built around a simple RHS steel frame, a sturdy, cost-effective and termite-proof starting point. This structural framework supports single-skin building but, with no inner wall linings, the frame has a far more visible role to play in the house. Accordingly, the spacing of the studs is determined by the span of the custom orb and polycarbonate sheets, while the use of structural frames as door and window frames allowed the architects to dispense with joinery altogether. The resulting building has a down-to-earth simplicity; the authenticity that comes from being able to trace the structure of the house as well as its finishes.

The rest of the building is made almost entirely from custom orb and polycarbonate sheeting, a contemporary twist on the great Australian tradition of corrugated iron buildings. Clear polycarbonate is used throughout as a cost-effective and character-filled alternative to glass. In windows, doors and an infill between walls and ceiling, it allows light to enter directly – and, more often, indirectly – while retaining the distinctive character of the house inside and out. Its transparency opens the house to the garden on all sides, making the tropical vegetation an integral part of the design, as though the building’s true walls were the greenery outside and the polycarbonate merely an intermediary.

This raw, honest aesthetic informs interior design choices as well. The floor is made of clear-finished concrete, a process that resembles polishing without the huge price tag. Similarly, the kitchen fit-out uses ‘Repco’ workshop furniture and benches at a saving of 85%. The effect is striking, recalling the resourcefulness of inner city artists and bush pioneers alike, and chiming perfectly with the building’s relaxed-industrial aesthetic.

This aesthetic is in turn softened and humanised by inventive finishes. Bright splashes of red adorn the kitchen and provide a stunning feature wall, setting off the silvery custom orb and grey concrete. Outside, warm wooden verandahs provide a transitional space – both aesthetically and functionally – between interior and garden. Wide French doors open from the interior to the verandah, the space extending to become an ideal location for entertaining large crowds, or taking a leisurely breakfast. Then extending even further into the garden, it embraces the relaxed, outdoor lifestyle of tropical Australia.

This capacity for the building to fold open – to become, as the architect puts it, “effectively an open pavilion with high level exhaust shutters” – is the essence of its environmental strategy as well. With numerous operable walls, airflow is encouraged so that cross ventilation replaces the need for air conditioning, and dramatically reduces the use of overhead fans. The energy savings of such a strategy are equalled by the joys of living in a house that is genuinely open to its environment, avoiding the hermetically sealed discomfort of heavily airconditioned buildings.

With Batchelor Pad, Architects Studio/Mode Design Corporation demonstrate that economy and good design need not be mutually exclusive. In fact, more powerfully still, they show that financial constraints can produce innovative solutions and new ways of thinking that work to the benefit of good design and beautiful buildings. It’s a lesson that we’re used to learning only from houses designed for architects themselves, so it’s refreshing to see this kind of clever, attractive, cost-effective design being put to work so successfully for a client. It’s a mark of what architecture, at its humble best, can mean to the lives of real people. +

1 Large verandahs create an intermediate zone between garden and house, perfect for entertaining and relaxing. 2 Transparent polycarbonate allows the building to glow with a surprising warmth at night-time. 3 Operable walls of transparent polycarbonate make a low-cost alternative to expensive glazing. 4 he kitchen fitout uses Repco workshop benches and cupboards, reducing costs while adding an edgy industrial element to the house. 5 Polycarbonate and custom orb cladding evokes the Australian architectural vernacular and its fondness for corrugated iron. 6 The openness of the house allows the easy circulation of people, air and light between interior, exterior and verandah spaces, producing a building that captures the Top End lifestyle while negating the need for air conditioning.

PHOTOGRAPHY by Cas Fletcher and Daryl Butler