Mornington Peninsula, Australia – McBride Charles Ryan
Built area: 258 m2 (2,777 sq. ft.)
Year built: 2008
Photography: John Gollings
No – this is not a bottle house. A “Klein Bottle” is a shape with no discernible inner or outer surfaces. The multi-award winning Klein Bottle House, designed by Melbourne architects, McBride Charles Ryan applies the principle here in a home that folds in on itself.
“This weekend house is located on heavily ti-treed sand hills adjacent the ocean beach in Rye. Its spiral configuration is a spatial device which responds to the difficult topography, it is also a figure rich in coastal allusions. By passing the spiral back through itself the house has become the mathematical concept of the Klein Bottle. This strategy has unlocked a new series of relationships and sequential spatial experience.
The ‘contents’ of the ‘bottle’ are a rectilinear platform and walls which make the abstract geometry inhabitable. A dramatic stair winds around an internal courtyard picking up the bedrooms of the house as it ascends, the journey ending in the great living room. Externally the building is predominantly clad in cement sheeting, simultaneously recalling both folded origami, tents and the ubiquitous ‘fibro-shack’. The building is supported on a traditional timber stud frame – pushed to its physical limit.”
Click on any image to start lightbox display. Use your Esc key to close the lightbox. You can also view the images as a slideshow if you prefer 8-)
You’ll also find links to two videos of the home below the image gallery.
