House at 08 Albatross Avenue by Studio Workshop in Miami, Australia

Project: House at 08 Albatross Avenue Architects: Studio Workshop Location: Miami, Queensland, Australia Area: 9,816 sq ft Year: 2019 Photography: Andy Macpherson

House at 08 Albatross Avenue by Studio Workshop

The House at 08 Albatross Avenue, designed by Studio Workshop, is a striking example of contextually adapted architecture. Located on a narrow and busy street in Miami, Australia, this three-story home features a series of vertical facade elements serving multiple functions: shade, privacy, and view control. The facade is designed to create a sense of restraint and provide the appearance of a unified, cohesive building against a backdrop of diverse architectural styles along the street.

8 Albatross is a three-story coastal home with an eastern orientation towards the Pacific Ocean, located along a narrow and busy thoroughfare. A series of vertical facade elements serve for shade, privacy, view modulation, and scaling of the overall building mass.

This project is about context and facade, created in response to it. Interaction with the coastal road and, eventually, with the beach is critically important in this project. Albatross Avenue is characterized by continuous blocks of two-story homes, each striving to attract attention. The facade of 8 Albatross, although confidently expressed, counters the loud diversity of architectural styles along the street, aiming to create a sense of restraint and offer the appearance of a unified, whole building.

Moreover, the subtropical climate of southeast Queensland allows for very permeable interaction with the outdoor environment, and the project takes this into account by ensuring a high degree of connection through the facade, private outdoor spaces, and a covered garden. The Pacific Ocean is the primary cognitive landmark on the site, so the project pays special attention to these views. On a very limited building site, the project aims to maximize and balance living space in relation to orientation and user experience.

8 Albatross is spacious and achieves a balance between connection to the surrounding environment and privacy in an urban setting with very close neighbors. The internal program organization places services, vertical circulation, and amenities in the center to allow common and shared spaces to flow outward. Residents gain a combination of perspectives and seclusion in relation to the ocean and the street respectively. A disciplined exuberance is experienced by residents through a journey from approach to entrance and arrival, with an emphasis through views obtained via a mediating veil and the use of a covered garden.

The project aims to contribute to the public space of Albatross Avenue, offering a singular and cohesive architectural presence in a context that is excessively diverse in character. The veil-like facade provides a restrained mask through which the building can be read, thus activating a kind of aesthetic interaction not found in adjacent buildings. The overall height is sympathetic and aligns with neighboring buildings, while subtle details break scale, ensuring human interaction with residents and passersby.

– Studio Workshop