Shutter House
Theatrical and diagrammatic, the Shutter House sits as a simple box against the velveteen slope. Crisp orthogonal architecture heightens the beauty of the voluptuous terrain. Large sliding steel screens enclose an outdoor space which connects the studio to the residence, and beyond to the water plane below.
Designed for a creative couple, a video and a textile artist, the Shutter House is a new residence and studio in Franklin, Southern Tasmania. Bells tinkle on the necks of sheep from which wool is collected to create fabric. Local plants are gathered and used to create natural dyes in the adjacent studio. Other rooms are filled with cameras, cords and digital equipment - the tools of a digital trade. Both embedded and encapsulated as artists, our clients engage with the visual and the virtual.
As contemporary artists, our clients approached the design process with unusual openness and clarity. Apertures frame the superlative Tasmanian landscape. The primary living space features a low, elongated, window which frames the glistening Huon River, leaving the wall at eye height opaque. The architecture develops the vernacular vocabulary of the Valley. Famous for apple orchards and viticulture - the Huon has a wealth of small rural vertical-board buildings which are immaculately sited and command the surrounding landscape.
Shutter House is clad in unfinished salvaged timber offering a roughly hewn texture upon a meticulously detailed abstract volume. Bespoke face-fixed glazing offers impeccably, and specifically, framed views where large panes of glass open to the pure Tasmanian light. Theatrical and diagrammatic, the Shutter House sits as a simple box against the velveteen slope. Crisp orthogonal architecture heightens the beauty of the voluptuous terrain. Large sliding steel screens enclose an outdoor space which connects the studio to the residence, and beyond the water plane below. The Shutter House exudes a careful, thoughtful, departure from many domestic norms - which reflects the intense commitment of our exacting and unusual clients.
