44 hare street.

44 Hare Street was designed and owner-built in 2007 by Keiron Benson, designer and director at Benson Design. Keiron had owner-built his last home and supervised many other personal and client builds, and was keen to utilise this experience to determine an economical construction method and also gain further expertise that could be applied to future client projects.

The brief was to provide a medium-sized family home on a small, very steep site, maximising the north aspect, views of the beach and maintaining a connection to the bush reserve behind. The site has a narrow 12 metre street frontage and 36 metre depth dropping away to the north at a 1 in 3 gradient. The steep topography allowed for the configuration of a three level building, with a low profile from the street that hides the expansive spaces below.

It was crucial to incorporate a yard space connected to the living area on the top level rather than a separated yard two levels below. To achieve this on the steep site Keiron utilised the adjoining laneway and located the car parking and storage on the bottom level, and configured a way to minimise site works, construction time and cost by utilising a pre-fab concrete panel and steel skeleton structural core that was backfilled with site soil to form a spacious courtyard on the top level.

The layout of the street-level indoor/outdoor living space was influenced by Japanese entry courtyards and Mediterranean living, and is perfectly designed to adapt to Albany's rapidly changing weather, opening up to become one with the outside environment when both south and north doors are stacked open, and creating a sheltered sanctuary whilst maintaining the views when the doors are closed. The front courtyard has an edible garden, which produces plenty of fresh seasonal herbs and vegetables, and the BBQ and kids' play equipment are stored neatly behind bifolding door panels on the adjoining deck. The north view of Middleton Beach, Lake Seppings and distant mountain ranges is available from all living spaces including the yard, creating a very open and spacious feel in what is actually a small floor area.

The stairwell and other walls in the home are raw concrete panel with Kingspan insulation to the outside. The high thermal mass traps heat energy during the day and releases it at night. In summer the stair void can be left open to ventilation, allowing cool air in on the ground level to circulate via natural convection, exchanging with the hot air on the top level, keeping the house at a comfortable temperature.

All fixtures and finishes were selected for a minimalist aesthetic and durability. Concealed storage hides the clutter, making the home easy to keep tidy. All lighting is either LED or fluorescent, including custom stainless light troughs fitted to the bulkheads to create soft reflected light from fluro tubes whilst keeping the ceiling clean of fixtures, in keeping with the minimalist finish.

On both of his owner-built homes Keiron assisted the “tradies”, providing hands-on labour to electricians, plumbers etc. This experience was of major benefit to his professional design work for clients, as it gave him insight into best practices at the design phase to facilitate ease of workflow during the construction phase.