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design
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33
Street
Life
Quick Facts
Bisley Place House
Location:
Wakerley QLD
Architect:
James Russell
Architect
Structural engineer:
AD Structures
Builder/bricklayer:
Crocker Builders
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Houses in Brisbane’s pre-war inner suburbs are
compact, with small setbacks and open
verandahs resulting in loved and active streets.
This is a very different approach to the inward
focus of so many contemporary houses.
To encourage a return to this engagement in
new estates and subdivisions, projects are
needed that demonstrate a renewed level of
engagement.
Making place in the scale
of the suburb
On what was once semi-rural land between
Brisbane and Moreton Bay, there now stands the
suburb of Wakerley, a series of estate
developments that have grown up over the past
decade.
The streets are empty as we wind our way
through one such estate on a 35-degree day.
Only the mechanical hum of air-conditioners
murmurs in the air, sustaining the people
concealed in their houses.
At the end of Bisley Place, James Russell
Architect has designed a house that is a solid
demonstration of the benefits of opening to the
street. In contrast to the surrounding empty
streets, children here are running to and fro; not
just the inhabitants, but neighborhood children,
visitors from across fences.
The aroma of fresh cooking carries unobstructed
on the breeze from courtyard to curb.The ritual
of cooking and meals happens right here on the
street edge, a place for community. Building
outdoor circulation through sites and along
boundaries also allows for enjoyment of
south-east Queensland’s benign climate.
This is the new house; not merely a dwelling
place for individuals and families, but an
interface at which habitat, street and the many
rooms within a house can fuse and play.