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'If the alternative society is to arrive in Australia, it will be done by flesh-and-blood people ranging from school teachers to bank managers, potters to porters who are prepared to buck the system'
Knox, Alternative Housing,p 80
Knox provides detailed descriptions of many of his projects throughout his writings. This tabulation aims to extract the key features of the projects referred to in the texts. Quotes from the texts are identified by italics, the colour referring to the book concerned, with page numbers provided in the right hand column. Blank cells indicate that no relevant information was provided in the books.
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CLIENT/S | BALL William Macmahon and Katrina | |
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YEAR | 1948 | |
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LOCATION | Eltham | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | mudbrick & timber | |
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PLANNING | pleasant simple construction | 31 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | mud brick | |
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OTHER | earth mixing all done by hand | |
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CLIENT/S | BARDEN | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | Eltham | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | 3 acre site sloping to west | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Mudbrick infill walls; recycled 12inch sq red ironbark adzed columns supported roof where living room joined the bedroom gallery wing; ribbed iron roofing with gentle sweeping curves, 15,000 sandstock bricks; several solid timber walls | 67 |
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PLANNING | Eastern bedroom wing on highest level, entry galley accessed bedrooms & main courtyard room (36 X 24 ft
x 16 ft high) minstrel gallery cantilevered out 6 ft above main floor level & 6ft below ceiling level eg of fluid planning-gallery decided on when chimney being built entered by the tiniest circular stair - drama of entering laroe space from small one | 65 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | pattern of clerestories allowed outside views & vertical dimensions within; secondhand square slate flooring large chimney for fireplace at southern end - northern courtyard with series of verandahs that opened onto different levels | 65 |
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OTHER | The Barden house is one of those buildings which seemed to improve the land itself, which is a rare feat. | 68 |
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CLIENT/S | BATTY Robin | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | Warrandyte | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Steep & rocky, slope & valley it overlooked determined a severe, almost vertical excavation, bottom of which was shaped to look like a narrow moat | 60 |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Mudbrick, large timber posts ceiling lined with timber | |
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PLANNING | Norman fortress as inspiration, with moat & portcullis connected to fixed drawbridge. Once inside the building, you would stand on a platform about five feet above the floor that would provide an exciting view of the house and the valley beyond .... & looked down onto the tops of the trees. | 60
61 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | large curved chimney, curving walls, roof led eye upwards to 2 balconies at first floor level, narrow arrow slit windows in curved wall, stairway was let into the mud walls & followed their sweeping curve, 3 fireplaces | 60 |
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OTHER | the whole structure appeared timeless and powerful from the gravel track that led down to the land. Its massive walls, criss-crossed by squiggly shadows cast by the young eucalypts, created an aura of medieval power and pageantry. Inside the building this feeling persisted ... The internal shape had the character of a living organism. | 61 |
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CLIENT/S | BRYNING Noel & Bobbie | |
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YEAR | 1946 | |
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LOCATION | Eaglemont, on subdivision designed by Walter Burley Griffin | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | a few large river red gums standing here and there | 12 |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | random stonework | |
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PLANNING | ceiling followed roof pitch | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | fireplace, flaoqed terraces verandahs | |
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OTHER | Knox recruited building labour from coffee lounge gatherlnqs at Risties (predominantly artists) When he visited it years later, Knox commented on its successful 'Integration with the landscape: | 14 |
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| copied Griffin's door method as a temporary measure | | |
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CLIENT/S | BUSST, Phyl | |
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YEAR | 1948 | |
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LOCATION | Eltham | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Difficult, steep sloping site, size of 5 standard bush blocks, retaining original landscape character excavated for house | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Mudbrick; timbered ceilings & heavy beams; bitumen & creek gravel roofing | |
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PLANNING | Large house (in excess of 1200 sq ft) plan split along middle as a result of steepness of site;
enter house from intermediate level ; 2 large main rooms, living room & kitchen downstairs, studio & bedroom upstairs possible to walk out of the studio bedroom onto the roof The house was welded into the hillside so that every room had access to the outside at ground level, in addition to the studio balcony over the livingroom. | 24 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | Upstairs balcony, Doors to outside in every room, thick earth
walls giving sense of security; fireplace alcove | 24 |
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OTHER | crawler tractor used for earth moving a positive alternative to architectural thinking ... It explored the flexible nature of earth to develop a new sense of flowing form and shape truly a building where every practical and experimental technique was tried or used | 49
56
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CLIENT/S | CHABLE, Dan | |
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YEAR | 1960s | |
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LOCATION | Eltham hilltop, a mile north of lookout | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | the ultimate in antediluvian mystery - bushland dominated by great strands of Eucalyptus sideroxytin - grey leaves and black trunks of plaited bark | 70 |
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MATERIALS | Red gum posts | |
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PLANNING | Building located near the top of hill, facing east - it looked like a large eagle poised to take flight | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | roof 'wings' sloped out & down ... supported on their extremities by large red gum posts leaning at an angle of about 20 degrees from the vertical | 70 |
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OTHER | Client's brief to Knox was to design me a true house. | 70
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CLIENT/S | COLLER John & Jenny | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | Eltham, on 15 acres of land | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Squarish site overgrown with blackberries, sloping gently to the south with beautiful natural bushland around the perimeters | 132 |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Mudbrick, secondhand bricks, and recycled Baltic pine flooring used to line ceiling & panel cupboards | |
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PLANNING | Open plan 5,000 sq ft house designed by Knox, built by his 19yr old son Hamish and his friends. You could feel the development in the builders as they worked together and they saw the structure becoming a reality. | 134 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | with large central brick fireplace, large adzed posts with iron brackets, furniture & window frames also made by the builders | |
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OTHER | had to produce a result at about two-thirds the standard price of such a building when built by the proper professional methods . ... in the end there was a vibrance about the building tradesmen's procedures | 133
134
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CLIENT/S | COOKE Lawton & Lynn | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | Camberwell | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Acre of land on site of a demolished house | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Mudbrick & timber construction, recycled floorboards & 12 x 12 ft oreqon timber beams from the original house | |
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PLANNING | When we discussed planning it emerged that Lynn's instinctive ideas were in the mud brick vernacular, but Camberwell was an area where brick buildings predominated | 109 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | designed & constructed a series of simple, but elegant metal brackets to bolt into all the vertical & horizontal members ... to create a timber skeleton ... similar to a steel framed building ... The infills were to be of glass and mud ... Courtyard with timber pergola full height windows | 109 |
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OTHER | Mudbrick proposal presented to the Camberwell Council. Knox crush-tested bricks, did computations, took building authorities to visit other projects and council issued a permit. Clients later purchased land on the Mornington Peninsula. Such is the power of environmental building ... even in the suburbs. It can change our whole way of looking at life. | 110
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CLIENT/S | DISKIN, Aviva & Bernie | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | Eltham | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Stables, which later became residence situated in a beautiful clump of candlebarks | 103 |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Reclaimed 10x10in Jarrah posts; Iron roof curved; Ceiling lined with water-stained lining boards, external walls timber panels with 1in vertical timber battens | |
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PLANNING | Open Plan : Interior (upper & lower floors) unsubdivided, except for bathroom | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | Enormous fireplace, large & high verandahs timber walls | |
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OTHER | Knox describes this as a simple bush landscape building. The house took them over. They entered a new life, a new life role and a new life style ... The transformation that took place in their thinking and doing was exciting. | 103
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CLIENT/S | ENGLISH Frank | |
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YEAR | 1947 | |
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LOCATION | Eltham | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | mudbrick; timber, roof covering was bitumen and creek gravel | |
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PLANNING | simple; 700sq ft; large living area | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | skillion roof; 3' x 3' mud brick piers; 5 yellow box tree trunks for main beams; 6"x 1' rough sawn hardwood ceilings | |
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OTHER | Written up by Robin Boyd in The Age as 'a new vision for the new age' | 26
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CLIENT/S | DOWNING, Prof. Richard & LE GALLIENNE; Dorian | |
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YEAR | built in 4 stages from 1948-1964 | |
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LOCATION | Eltham | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | deep excavation (about 45 degrees) dug by hand, cut in steps of about one foot by one foot | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Mudbrick, concrete plinth on top of each wall, 'primitive' internal wall linings of millsawn hardwood panels | |
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PLANNING | 1st wing a simple rectangle the whole of the interior of the house could be comprehended at one time 2nd wing 5 sided, split level ground level which was used as a study, 2 bedrooms above springing back into the hillside Access was gained to a courtyard complete with its own creek & bog garden by passing under the upper floor level where it joined the excavated hillside. | 42 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | Concrete plinth on top of mudbrick walls with system of rafters set into the concrete beams to form scissor trusses - ceiling ridge appeared unsupported Knox had seen this done 1n old Ma/don church) Clerestory windows at each gable end looking out on the marvellous landscape, courtyard divisions (7foot walls) not full height landscape elements come up right up to the doors of the house
landscape designed by Ellis Stones, with labour by Gordon Ford | 42 |
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OTHER | Knox would sit on the terrace with his clients where they would contemplate the wistful beauty of the landscape. | 44
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CLIENT/S | HEATHER, Mr and Mrs Reg | |
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YEAR | 1949 | |
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LOCATION | Murphy's Creek, near Tarnagulla Vic. | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Large house on slightly undulating landscape | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Concrete slab, iron bark poles from local trees, mudbrick infill walls | |
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PLANNING | positioning of kitchen sink to view passing_ traffic | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | | |
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OTHER | Knox described the effect the house had on the owners and the team of inexperienced workers who all discovered a new relationship with each other & with the landscape ... human ecology in action | 109
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CLIENT/S | HUGGETT, Peter & Marion | |
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YEAR | c.1975 | |
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LOCATION | Eltham, on old orchard site | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | The house commands views of the Yarra Valley and the Dandenongs and glimpses of the Warburton and Healesville Ranges. It also looks back to the high rise buildings of the city ... | 138 |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Earth walls rendered with powdered milk mixed into topsoil, secondhand timber, brick flooring and outdoor paving |
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CLIENT/S | HOLMES, Mr. and Mrs. Jack | |
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YEAR | 1948 | |
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LOCATION | Batman Road, north of Eltham township | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Home set among spindly box trees & clay soil; excavated - excavation shape made lowest where the surrounding natural ground was highest, so that water ran away from the building in every direction | 38 |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Mudbrick, bitumen & creek gravel roof | |
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PLANNING | plan was an expanding circle or spiral which started from a seat built around a tree in the garden .. .looked exactly like a periwinkle shell lying on its side. On 2 levels. | 37 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | Curved walls, concrete slab (3 "inch thick to cut costs - Wriqht's were 6 ") | |
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OTHER | Reviewed in in architectural journals & mentioned in Robin Boyd's book 'Australia's Home; attracted a lot of attention CSIRO visited & were impressed with simplicity of the foundation method Knox claims Eltham produced the slab floor system | 38
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PLANNING | Designed by Knox, built by Hamish Knox & Eddie Gray. 1100 sq ft one of the simplest and best homes that could be conceived of | 138 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | Roof ridge supported by 2 x 12-sided adzed electric light poles; 8ft wide verandahs on two sides, with large timber supporting posts, large fireplace at one end of living area, clerestory lighting; simple pitched roof follows line of surrounding hills | |
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OTHER | today I prefer simple, low-cost work because it makes interesting housing possible to a group who otherwise could not have it ... Good relations spring up all around and the sense of team work sets in | 138
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CLIENT/$ | JOHNSTON, Roy | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | ELTHAM | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Knox helped him choose land : We found some satisfactory land on an Eltham hillside, looking down a valley ... | 23 |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Mudbrick; 6 messmate trees measuring 2ft, 4inches in diameter at the butt with bark stripped off form the hardwood rafters from Gippsland forest, some recycled dock timbers; iron brackets anchoring rafters to posts standing like Greek columns in the centre of the great living room, welded by Knox's 14 yr old son Alistair | 25 |
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PLANNING | | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | really big freshly logged timber columns as basis for the design | 24 |
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OTHER | All was done by trust and understanding ..... all united with a common zeal .. no contract with builders client discovering the thrill of natural building | 24
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CLIENT/S | KNOX Alistair & Margot | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | Eltham | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | on partly-cleared, comparatively unspoiled bushland; large excavation, shaped & filled to appear as a piece of nature. House sited half on excavated ground & half on filled. | 52 |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Used what he had at hand as was broke at the time concrete footings, mudbrick walls, brick & stone paving laid directly on to the ground, solid timber, secondhand building materials for window frames, recycled timber for other joinery; timber ceilings; recycled bluestone as gutter termination on excavation side | |
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PLANNING | very simple plan - dispensing with rooms to become a series of flowing spaces ... covered internal central courtyard (36 x 24 ft) surrounded by a peripheral band of large informal zones for sleeping and living. Courtyard ceiling raised 3 ft above rest of building with clerestory windows around it & large openings to external areas | 53 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | series of 2ft x 2ft mud brick piers occurring at modular intervals around the entire outside wall line of the building & 3-tiered horizontal roofline consisting of pergola & verandah level spreading out all round, tying the building back into the bush to give the sense of indivisibility .... relationship to Aust. landscape of horizontal plane ∓ vertical rhythm Bullock hide splits sewn together to form curtains clerestory windows; central courtyard, folding concertina door to partition space; openings to outdoors from each area 12ft wide pergola surrounding whole building slate paving; corner fireplace | 64 |
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OTHER | employed non-professional builders Knox described his 'house landscape 'as an integrated series of simple plantings & land shapes' | 59
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CLIENT/S | LAVERSHA Don & Mary | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | Strathfieldsaye Shire, Bendiqo | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | 5 acres of untouched antediluvian wilderness Knox sited the dam so it could be seen from the house through native grevilleas. He devised a system of miniature damlets around the house and pergola site ... with consideration given to retaining reflective qualities of the water by keeping water black through planting grasses on excavation. Aim was to provide owners with a meditative place. | 104
105 |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | 4 main creeper rafters, pitch of pergola rafters conforming with the surrounding landscape as they extend ever outwards. Designed to be added to as required : The building and its environs could then extend up to a distance of a 100 feet or more | 106 |
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PLANNING | House square in shape (40 x 50 ft.) with 2 bedrooms. Knox based the design on the water garden principle that he claimed demands a different sort of shelter to go with it- a sense of eternity. House designed to be capable of extending out in any and every direction beyond the original roof line via 24 x 24 ft modules of pergola posts. Future bedrooms could be either be attached to existing building or located as separate wings across an intervening courtyard. | 105
106 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | Pergola posts and overhead connecting members, which would pass through and around tree clumps and over the water garden. New sections of roofing could be laid over such extensions in the spaces between the trees and water anywhere. Pergolas planted with grapevines to give shelter in summer and light in winter. Space within pergola posts seen as an indoor space which could be planted with grass - an 'indoor' ground cover ... Its size could be twenty- four by twenty-four feet and its containment related to the posts of the pergolas and the beams they support Clerestory windows | 106 |
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OTHER | Such a structure would unite the house and the land into an indestructible whole. Additive design philosophy | 106
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CLIENT/S | MARKS house | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | Mt Martha, beach house | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Major trees on ½ acre allotment which they wanted to retain | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Solid timber, sapling verandah posts, mud brick PLANNING open layout with a system of sliding doors ... whole fitted into the existing tree growth ... some of the trees came through the verandah floors and ceilings. | 98 |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | verandah 12 inches above ground level, fireplace, sliding doors· timber stained using water stains to relate to location | |
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OTHER | |
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CLIENT/S | NICHOLAS Dr John | |
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YEAR | 1973 | |
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LOCATION | Murrumbidgee area, 5 miles from Canberra ... about a million miles in spirit | 88 |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | round shape house as a response to rounded landforms of the area | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Mudbrick | |
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PLANNING | Relatively independent rooms, on varying levels - designed | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | No roof overhangs, verandahs at a lower level. Insulation qualities of roof material - rain water would run from one level to another like a waterfall | 89 |
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OTHER | Client was an ardent admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright & had seen many of his buildings. Said Knox was the only person who could design a house for him. | 87
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CLIENT/S | PITTARD Jim | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | Eltham area | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Difficult desperate site to build on : steeply sloping land with a superb view to the south ... hard to conceive of a suitable building for it ... to provide a good northern aspect (which the climate demands) It was obvious a new concept was required to do the house and landscape justice | 20
18 |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Squared Posts - 18inch adzed recycled King Billy pine - very old & rare timber; Roof timbers recycled - from wrecked cinema & Melb dock | |
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PLANNING | radical excavation ($4,000) - cutting a large plateau out of the solid stone base ... and design a building that curved outwards to the southern aspect to form a concave arc to the north. This would produce a sheltered & generous oval- shaped courtyard for winter living. Stone wall- gave promise of providing a natural waterfall sixteen feet high, with a native bush gully garden below at the house level, | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | Stone wall | |
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OTHER | Responsiveness to site : Knox decided to sit on the land and listen to it and see what it was saying. | 18
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CLIENT/S | RICHARDSON Don | |
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YEAR | 1965 | |
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LOCATION | Cobungra - a dramatic landscape - cattle station between Omeo & Mt. Hotham, covering some 130,000 acres in some of the highest land in Victoria | 87 |
| 87 SITE CHARACTERISTICS | Knox selected the site for the building, with a commanding view & proximity to air strip & other buildings, & water | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Recycled bridge timbers, ceiling timber lined, slate paving | |
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PLANNING | similar to Knox house; specifically planning for warmth, sunshine temperature control | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | Central courtyard room 24 x 36ft, high ceiling, low pitched roof for snow; 2 fireplaces at diagonal angles, exposed rafters; clerestory windows all around, periphery surrounded b by rooms & wide, extending verandahs around the house extensions of the roofline External wall openings - nearly all floor to ceiling, 6 ft wide (planned to have wooden shutters, but not necessary due to earth walls, slab floor & insulated ceiling) | |
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OTHER | |
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CLIENT/S | SERLE,John | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | St. Andrews overlooking Kinqlake range | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | excavated | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | Series of adzed posts set into the 12 ft modules (square red gum & reclaimed electric light poles, tallest 23+1t) Brick floor directly laid on ground, earth walls | |
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PLANNING | Designed in square modules to be built in stages, with courtyards (cruciform in shape). | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | Series of draped roofs, adzed posts | |
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OTHER | John's mighty posts & timbers responding to landscape of ironbarks - sense of eternity within the eternal landscape | 82
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CLIENT/S | WAIN, Jill | |
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YEAR | 1974 | |
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LOCATION | Eltham, Knox chose land ∓ designed house | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | impossible sloping site, rose very steeply to middle of its tencth then steeply away to other side | |
| 106 BUILDING MATERIALS | Frame of electric light poles, with mud brick infills like Serle house· 2nd hand slate flooring sourced by client | |
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PLANNING | Building c.20ft in height, designed to straddle highest point of land | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | curved & sweeping iron roof, clerestory windows, changes in levels | 106 |
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OTHER | Wain house a catalyst for a series of 'do-it-yourself 'style houses in Eltham. We design the buildings and supervise them. Owners paid sub-contractors, organised finance & found interesting recycled materials. | 108
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CLIENT/S | ZULL, Ada & Bob | |
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YEAR | | |
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LOCATION | Cottles Bridqe | |
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SITE CHARACTERISTICS | house on 40 acres of land | |
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BUILDING MATERIALS | almost exclusively constructed of mudbrick & second-hand materials : main beams were 8 sided 30 foot electric light poles, adzed red gum beams, 2nd hand timber ceiling lining, hand made brick paving, solid timber partition walls, recycled bluestone used as wing walls which support the roof and pergolas and create alcoves of interest and tie the building back into that landscape with its survival conscious growth/ shapes, soil & stones | 129 |
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PLANNING | Open plan; clients requested a 'primitive' design | |
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BUILDING ELEMENTS | clerestory lighting; main beams extend beyond walls of house to form into pergolas & court yards | 128 |
| OTHER | The large floors of the living areas have the mood of the dying rays of a Central Australian sunset full of mauve-brown and red-gold. By the light of the fire they come alive. | 128
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