Winston Rd, Bullsbrook, WA, $1.35 million
Who needs walls anyway?
In search of sun and tranquillity, British designers Roger Joyner and his wife Gill set out from their homeland on a driving adventure. It was the 1990s, and they were slowing wending their way from England towards a new life. Passing through Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, they shipped their car to Singapore and then on to Darwin.
“We drove down the middle of Australia and then up the east coast – but we had left the UK to be free of people,” Roger says. “We’d met people in Istanbul who insisted we visit Perth. So we turned left at Townsville, drove to Katherine, on to Kununurra – when we drove into Perth we said, ‘This is the place’.”
The couple found the ideal site for their new home in Bullsbrook, an hour north-east of Perth’s CBD. Inspired by the pole houses they’d seen on their travels across the country, they took more than two years to design and build on the secluded, peaceful 18ha block atop the Darling Range ridgeline with views of rolling hills and magnificent trees.
“We’d left the land of rising damp and dry rot and come to the land of termites and bushfires,” Roger says. “We wanted something that was non-combustible and inedible to termites and that’s what this house is all about. It’s an open steel structure; you do not need walls, they’re only there for division.”
The home, completed in 2002, features full-height frameless windows that Roger says turn the changing environment into a living artwork. Decks wrap the house on two levels and extend to a 25m above-ground lap pool. The stainless steel U-shaped kitchen acts as central control station and overlooks an open-plan living area with French oak flooring and sunken lounge.
Solar passive features include a motorised vent to cool the house in summer, extensive shading on the northern side and extended gables and trees to shade the east and west sides of the house.
The roof’s central spine is lifted above a split hexagon, with clerestory windows flooding the interior with natural light. Bore water supplies the bathrooms and evaporative cooler and tops up the pool and multiple water tanks.
The house won several accolades including House of the Year (2003) from the Building Designers Association of WA, and West Australian Contemporary House of the Year. As both owner and designer, Roger says that “when it comes to selecting things for yourself it becomes very hard to delve into what your personal likes are. That’s probably why this house has ended up with a very limited palette and simple form. But that’s also what’s made it so successful. It’s very easy to live in and stands up in its own right.”
Now parents of two avid sailors aged 12 and 15, Roger and Gill have plans to create a new dream home – this time closer to the coast.
Agent: Toby Astill, Space Realty, 0410 855 803
The magic number
Can BMW’s revamped 3 series regain the top spot? The signs are good.
Wine: All Saints Estate Muscadelles
The All Saints story began in 1864 with two Scottish engineers, George Sutherland Smith and John Banks.