COLOURFULWORLD

Saturday 23 November 2019

Open House Perth 2019

Open House Perth, a free two day event that celebrates the best of architecture and design was held in Perth on the weekend of the 16th and 17th of November.
With 120 places on show, from commercial venues to residential architectural masterpieces, heritage gems and beautiful gardens, this event invites people to explore their city and destinations that aren't usually accessible to the public.

Saturday was an extremely hot day for Perth's Autumn at 40C (104F) and I considered staying indoors, but at the same time didn't want to miss the opportunity to see some amazing places that I had earmarked to visit. We had a previous engagement for Sunday, so it had to be Saturday.
I managed to convince Jose to accompany me and just visit 4 or 5 places!
This year I could only participate in the Saturday visits as we already had an invitation to a friend's house for Sunday.

We started with a visit to the offices of the Arup Group, an architect/designer firm in Exhange Tower on The Esplanade, the road just across from Elizabeth Quay, so that we could enjoy an aerial view of the quay.
Arup was celebrating their 50th year in construction and they were the ones that designed the Elizabeth Quay bridge, they were involved in the construction of the Optus Stadium in Perth, the indoor waterfall at Changi Airport in Singapore, Cebu Airport in Cebu, Philippines (where I flew from in December 2018, when I attended my daughter's wedding)...

Their open plan offices with fantastic views over part of the city was just amazing.


Elizabeth Quay bridge built by Arup

The open plan offices
Timeline of their most iconic projects for the last 50 years -  A Lego model of the Opera House sat at the reception desk

When we left Arup, we walked around Elizabeth Quay, stopped for an ice-cream and came across a "tiny home", by Tiny Homes Perth. They seem to be very much in fashion, but even though they had everything you could wish to have in a house, it's just too tiny for my liking and I couldn't have all the clothes or shoes I have as the wardrobe space was just too minimal 😉.



Visit done we walked back to the parking lot, got in the car and drove west of the city to the suburb of Wembley to visit the recently completed Reuse House by X-Space Architects.
With a major renovation, they transformed a 1950's house into a big modern home, reusing and recycling existing materials from the original home and with energy efficient features.


The facade using the old brick




The compact outdoor area

The next two houses we visited just a couple of km's away were in the suburb of Doubleview.
Ravenscar House was built in just a 186 sqm (2002 sqf) site by architect/builder/owner Pablo Segnini.
The double storey house was so well conceived that he even managed to include a small pool in the backyard (sideyard in their case), with an open plan lounge/dining/kitchen, laundry/toilet on the ground floor and three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a study nook and family room on the first floor.
We enjoyed a chat with the owner who explained some of the materials he used and the reason why he chose to have a pool rather than a closed garage.




The VVision House was the last one, designed, built and owned by architects Christian and Deepti Wetjen.
The most sustainable, energy and waterwise efficient of the three of them, this two and a half storey house was the first straw bale house to be approved and built in the City of Stirling, and one of the first in Perth, but as Deepti explained to us they had to prove to the Council with data from straw bale houses built around the world that it was a viable and sustainable way to build.

The combination of the straw bale walls, insulated sandwich roof panels, double glazed windows that came all the way from Germany, make the house feel comfortable the whole year around. And we can attest to that, because with a 40C (104F) outside, indoors it was a cool 27C (80.6F). Solar panels, efficient lighting and appliances, water tanks and grey water recycling, the house generates more power than it uses, and we were told they mainly only pay for gas.

The 2 bedroomed ground floor is separate from the top floors and is rented out, while the family live above. 


The ground floor unit


A staircase over the 1st floor bedrooms leads to an ample family room used for sewing, studying, reading with views to Scarborough Beach on one side and balcony views to the city on the other side. Really beautiful!


All in all it was a great day out and Jose even enjoyed himself and had the opportunity of asking all sorts of questions regarding the sustainability of the houses.

The top floor and the family room (top left photo)
The city on one side and the sea on the other












31 comments:

  1. The way of the future in building. Excellent. Love it. I could live there.

    Have a fabulous day and weekend, Sami. Big hug. ♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For sure, I hope it becomes more and more common the world over, so we stop wasting resources. Thanks Sandee

      Delete
  2. At forty degrees I definitely would not have gone out!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We get used to it here David, even though we don't get that many days with that temperature. We get 3 or 4 days in late December above 40C, but because it's dry and not humid it's quite bearable.

      Delete
  3. The Elizabeth Quay bridge looks wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Haddock, it's quite a modern looking bridge.

      Delete
  4. Uma boa oportunidade para ver coisas novas, neste caso características arquitectónica diferentes.
    Obrigada por compartilhar connosco, Sami.
    :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obrigada Catarina, gosto imenso desta oportunidade de poder ver como outras pessoas vivem, tirar ideias, etc.

      Delete
  5. Not sure how practical it would be (where would I put my toothbrush and stuff?), but I do like the design of that sink in the ground floor unit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Revrunner, I think they probably use the little cupboard under the sink to store their stuff, but not much space. But I suppose it's mostly used as an Airbnb, so that could be enough :)

      Delete
  6. Beautiful places!

    The concept is very much like our Doors Open event in the summer here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I think it's a similar concept William. So great that so many countries are doing it.

      Delete
  7. Lots of air conditioned places. Wise. I think you've topped Grace with the view of the Quay. We have always been away for our Open House day for the last couple of years, or I had to work but I really enjoy seeing old and new buildings or whatever is on offer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Andrew, it's a great opportunity to visit things we don't usually get to see. Have a lovely weekend

      Delete
  8. I want to thank you for stopping by yesterday. Nothing is broken, but I’m so sore I can’t sit and type with one hand for any length of time. I am sending this generic message because I want you to know I stopped by, appreciate you, and read your post today. Thanks for understanding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So sorry for your fall Elizabeth, hope you're feeling better.

      Delete
  9. Send 20C over here, please, I´m freezing! ;-)
    It still hurts a little to see Bell Tower being so tiny now.

    Oh, that lego-model!!!
    That tiny house would be OK. A dream too far away, though.

    LOL, "just" 186 sqm - that´s more than we have ;-)

    A cool 27, oh, Sami! 19C in here! (Hopefully warmer soon, Ingo put the heating on "Party-mode").

    Thank you so much for sharing, I love to see how people live like.
    These dark days some don´t mind to put up curtains so you can see inside and I always enjoy this.

    1999 we pretended to be rich and went to show houses in Perth - such a delight! Apart from the German couple who thought German is a secret language and spoke real bad and loudly about the place - greetings to Thomas, we pretended not to understand.
    Back then. These days I´d tell them off, in English for everyone to understand!
    (Haha, getting mature here!)...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Certainly should be like that in the future. Thanks for the visit Agnes

    ReplyDelete
  11. I agree Bell Tower looks a bit lost in the middle of those huge buildings, but in general Elizabeth Quay looks beautiful and has brought a lot of people to the area.
    Sending you a warm hug :) Keep well and have a lovely weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I kinda made "friends" with Elizabeth Quay. I remember how we fell in love with Perth in 1995, oh, soooo different! And yet so overwhelming back then already! Have a great bit of a Sunday, we skip the fairy tale and might even go for a walk.

      Delete
  12. Dearest Sami,
    To me, the Arup Group visit was the most impressive and most valuable.
    All others depends so much on personal views and as you said, too small for storage makes the small home get off the 'wish' list rather soon.
    Don't know if I would sacrifice a closed garage for a pool...?!
    A very interesting day at least and a great initiative.
    Hugs,
    Mariette

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a wonderful collection of photographs here Sami, showing some beautiful places.

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jan, always fun to see other people's houses.

      Delete
  14. Fabulous pics of Elizabeth Quay from that perspective Sami, looks amazing! You did so much better than I on Open House weekend, the heat just exhausted me 😊 so interesting to see the different architectural styles 💙

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Grace. I was lucky to notice this visit on the 14th floor of Arup from where we could get great views.

      Delete
  15. I could not live in a "tiny house." My house is sometimes overloaded as it is (and it's not all that big) but even with a grand purge, I would feel closed in. But the others, oh! Some of those were splendid! It looks like a wonderful day out for the two of you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't live in a tiny house either, I would have to be minimalist which I'm not :) Thanks Jeanie.

      Delete

I would love to hear from you, please leave a comment.