With views to the city skyline, the C House is a sophisticated suburban presence. Deceptive in scale, it combines monumentality with minute detailing, mass with lightness and solidity with openness. It is an exquisitely crafted example of a unique vernacular. Responding to the subtropical climate of Brisbane, the house wraps around a large external room of stacked local sandstone that is roofed, yet open to the elements. The centerpiece of this dramatic volume is an open fire place, the flue of which forms a column supporting the solidly soaring concrete frame of the roof. This space, together with a large, formal internal room, comprises a significant portion of the house. The remaining rooms unravel on a more intimate scale with connections to the volume of the external room, intensifying the dramatic yet ambiguous scale of the house. The polarity of scale is further amplified by the conceptual approach to material and construction. Firmly grounded on an elaborately layered concrete base, the C House rises from a landscape of ledges, plinths, walls, stairs and pool with variously massive and delicate timber elements. Panels, doors, screens, louvers and frames make up a rich language that continues the layering. The sense of tactility is enhanced and the tectonic contrast heightened.
