The main requests from the client for the house really tailored around producing a
piece of architecture that was the fitting of the
location itself and the stunning natural beauty that was on offer.
My name's Joe Adsett and I'm the architect for Cliffhanger.
Cliffhanger is located in Toowoomba, and to give it context it's at the very top of the site and it
looks back out all the way east toward Brisbane. There is a landslide zone over the entire hill and
at the top of the ridge it stops and so there's a point in which you can build on the site that
was generally constrained and we couldn't quite work a functional home in that one spot where
you could build, we thought well look you know I think the main thing here is to create more
space and to cantilever away from this landslide part of the land and project out into the ether
and that would create that extra opportunity to get the functional accommodation to work
but also by cantilevering out we really stopped the neighbours from looking back into the house
and really frame that view all the way around from Picnic Point all the way around to Tabletop
Mountains, so that was a key consideration in terms of how we approach the design of the site.
As you arrive at the site and you come down the driveway you see the large curved arc of
the concrete cantilever away from the base of the home and from there you either keep driving down
you go underneath or you enter off a separate pathway and that leads you through and around
to this enormous glass front pivot door and that pivot door is you know deliberately oversized.
We worked with Vitrocsa on this project to create the glazing suite,
there's this precision in terms of its engineering. It is the finest glazing
system out there, frames are slender by virtue of their design, they are a highly engineered
aluminum product reinforced with stainless steel and it's designed in Switzerland but
it's made in Australia to Swiss specifications. If you're looking to you know in this instance
frame this view that's on offer, this was the only way to achieve that where the frames don't
become the dominant language, it's all about just the glass being subservient to the view.
Between the kitchen and the outdoor living spaces,
we wanted that to be a seamless flow to really support the lifestyle that we can
afford through the climate here in Queensland and large expanses of glass stack away at this
space to really enable that indoor lifestyle to extend to the outdoors and vice versa.
From the main living areas, the pool stretches along the entire length and really frames that
view and reflects in the water that outlook out to the valley below and the views on offer.
Materials in the building are really restrained we've got primarily concrete and glass and as that
is the superstructure for the home and the main idea of the house, we need to soften that with
an interlayer of veneered timber products and also large porcelain tiles in a travertine aesthetic.
Cabinetry is designed to really soften the architecture, and a lot of the curves and
the concrete which are quite dominant are repeated in the joinery elements
so we get these subtle soft curves and sharp edges are rounded deliberately.
The interiors commission allowed us to emulate the shapes of the architecture in the furniture itself
but also introduce soft textures and colours to really humanise the minimal architecture.
The lighting itself is concealed in tracks wherever possible, alongside curtains and
blinds and all the other conventional items we've tried to conceal at all opportunities.
You need to design houses so that they can be flexible to the prevailing weather
and particularly in this site here where we're on the edge of a cliff
and there's this really strong breeze that comes thundering up the mountain.
The structure itself is designed to float,
particularly the roof has popped up to allow ventilation to happen in all
sorts of different ways and according to the prevailing winds and breezes.
The most challenging part of the design is definitely the cantilever of the house it
in itself is a feat of engineering and I'm just utterly amazed at the achievement that has been
created here and everyone was committed to this project and in this instance,
the client was unrelenting in their approach,
determined to see this through and you know we're just absolutely amazed that it all
came together and it's just a beautiful piece of architecture we're thankful to be involved with.