I was trying to create a very private space that responded to place
and I think this house is an example of what can be achieved when a client and architect
respectfully engage with each other's culture. My name is Anthony Knobel and I'm a sole-practicing
architect and the architect on House for Hiroko. This house is located in O'Connor, which is an
inner-city suburb of Canberra that's in between the central business district
and the university precinct and there's a general shift in the feel and scale of this
inner-city suburb; larger dwellings are replacing old workers' cottages, so it was quite refreshing
when I was contacted by Hiroko and Kent and their intention was to replace their tired existing
monocrete home with something that was small in footprint but quite large in creative ambition
when I got involved in the project, I came and met with Hiroko and Kent on-site, we often would
start the meeting with a cup of tea and that then sort of led on into discussions about the design
and that's when we decided early on to start fresh and to really capture the client's cultural ties.
There were some minor communication hurdles early on and often relied quite heavily
on sketching and hand drawing to convey the concept
My name is Hiroko Yamanaka. My husband and I were the clients of that project
I grew up in a traditional Japanese house in rural Japan and my husband spent
considerable time in Japan and still has a working relationship with Japan
Our brief was that the house should be modest single story and Japanese aesthetic to it
I specifically asked Anthony to design a Japanese bath for me. A bath time is
very important for us Japanese we usually take a bath at the end of the day to distress and relax
I learned a lot from Hiroko in the early stages of this project
and two very important aspects that Hiroko raised with me early on
were the celebrations of bathing and the celebrations of tea so that became a focal part of
how some of the spaces were arranged and they became known as the tea pod and the bathing pod
The bathing pod bookends the master bedroom and it also balances up the house and it's composed
of the deep soak bath, which sits prominently in the corner of the pod where both sets of stacking
doors peel back to reveal the northern garden. The tea pod is quite an integral part of the design
it's located just off the edge of the living space and it's composed of hardwood and glass and the
volume of the tea room is compressed so entering guests have to bend over to access, which reflects
the sense of humility in the process. Externally the house is largely composed of a painted
brick but as you start to move deeper within the home the softer warmer palette starts to emerge
Japanese houses are designed with summer in mind. It is very hot and extremely humid so deep eaves
and sliding doors works for the Japanese climate. But in Canberra we have hot and dry summer
so these deep eaves prevent the harsh sunlight comes in but in winter it gets really cold
But the glorious sun comes in from all these glass doors and keeps the inside nice and warm in winter
So in responding to Canberra's climate there were a few tweaks that we had to do. One was
instead of a traditional pitched tiled roof we've implemented a slight butterfly skillion
roof to the house, which directs the light deeper into the floor plate. It was great
to use an architect because he supported and guided us through the design process
I chose Anthony because he has a similar family situation with us. His wife is from Germany
and his children speak both languages. So I think he truly understands our cultural diversity
I really like the understated and timeless design of the house. There is
no one single element which demands your attention. But everything is perfectly calculated
and simply spectacular. The thing I'm most proud of in the home is how I have managed to capture
the Japanese references. I find architecture in this instance can transcend cultural barriers.