Project: Clay Lantern House
Architecture: John Contoleon Architecture
Builder: Kasso Constructions
Structural Engineers: Northside Consulting Engineers
Location: Queensland, Australia
Year: 2020
Photo Credits: Brock Beazley
Seemingly floating over a suburban Brisbane street, the brick and timber façade of Clay Lantern House suggests the form and dappled light of its namesake. At different angles and times of the day, glimpses of movement and silhouette activate changes in the facade, connecting with the outside while maintaining privacy. Its design explores the contrast between public and private, open and closed, and light and shadow.
With a love for brick, our clients, a builder and his wife came to us in need of a new, contemporary home with more space for their young, growing family. They explained that their previous home lacked natural light and privacy from the street. They wanted the new home to provide refuge from their busy, ever-changing lives.
The new home and property needed to be low maintenance. Our client’s love for brick gave us the perfect low-maintenance material for the project. We complemented it with timber-look aluminium battens, steel and prefinished weatherboard. Not wanting to bring building work home, time spent maintaining the home needed to be minimal to allow more time for family. For this family, time is always spent together, so it was necessary to have the ability for adults and children to do their own thing within the same space without interruption.
Incorporating these requirements, the result is a private yet open, light-filled home connecting with the outdoors, extending to views of the mountains and valley beyond. Analysis of the diagonal slope of the site allowed us to maximise views while maintaining privacy from neighbours. This slope also allowed the creation of an entry journey that starts with a low scale at the entry gate, gradually opening up by stepping down into living spaces with a larger ceiling height and scale.
Taking advantage of the long boundary on the north side allowed the creation of multiple living spaces, all with a northern aspect and outlook to views. A central garden and brick blade anchor these spaces and, with large openings, strengthen the connection to the outdoors and the landscape. Outdoor living tucked in beside this garden spills out onto a grass courtyard creating a space for the family to relax and play. This space is surrounded by the home, offering privacy and access to views while spending time outdoors.
The upper level of the home consists of sleeping spaces. As required by the clients, the parent’s and children’s bedrooms are separated. Like the lower floor, stretching the plan along the long northern boundary allows all bedrooms to capture northern outlook, light, and views while maximising cross ventilation.
Conscious of the challenges of living in a subtropical climate, the Clay Lantern House uses its features to capture breezes and lower temperature inside. The lantern screen facade operates as a double-skin where the exterior reduces the direct sunlight and heat load on the home’s interior, making it cooler and more comfortable. The narrow and open layout captures breezes and maximises natural airflow, reducing the need for mechanical cooling, lowering energy use. Large openings and high-level louvres allow northern sunlight to penetrate deep into the home during the winter and cool breezes through the home in summer. Deep overhangs provide much-needed shade during summer.
Although Clay Lantern House presents as a bold and private home to the street, it gives back to the neighbourhood and passers-by through its movement in the facade during the day and as an illuminated lantern by night. The home’s modern form and low-pitched roof result in a scale that is not overbearing to neighbouring homes that are predominantly timber and tin, brick and tile, slowly being replaced.
Clay Lantern House encourages connection socially, visually and through nature. Its connectivity supports the relationship between outdoor and indoor living, with many contrasts combining to create a private home for the ever-changing lives of this family.
