Established in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1972, Denton Corker Marshall is an Australian architectural firm with four worldwide offices and an exceptional portfolio of design-led, highly regarded buildings. In addition to working on huge international projects, the studio also pampers modest contracts, notably single-family houses.
John Denton, Bill Corker, and Barrie Marshall, three architects, formed it in 1972. The Melbourne Museum, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Melbourne Gateway, and Bolte Bridge are just a few of the iconic structures designed by Denton Corker Marshall in Australia.
The company firmly believes that all buildings, regardless of size or kind, should produce a genuinely good experience for every individual who inhabits there, whether to work or live there, to visit, or just to pass by.
Modernist and minimalist have been diverse and regular descriptors of the firm’s work in Australia. One such example of Denton Corker Marshall’s work is The View Hill House.
View Hill House, Australia | Denton Corker Marshall
The View Hill House is located in the Yarra Valley, wine region, east of Melbourne in the state of Victoria, Australia. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, was completed in the year 2011, September. Owned by John Denton, this magnificent new housing development is situated in the middle of a 32-hectare vineyard in Victoria’s Yarra Valley.
It forms a dramatic silhouette against the skyline and is perched on a small hill with excellent views across the vineyards. View Hill House is a house that has been reduced to its most basic forms, like a streamlined sculpture, the cantilevered View Hill House looks over a vineyard in the picturesque Yarra Valley.
Design Solutions
With a cantilever covered in Corten and sides that open up to views of the breath-taking countryside, it is an impressive piece of architecture. The perforated steel blocks out the strong midday light while letting in diffused light. The aesthetics are concentrated from the perspective of the house’s boxes, which are thought of as closed prisms that are only open at their ends.
The top areas soar into the sky, gaining lengthy perspectives of the far horizon, while the lower spaces link to the neighbouring ground and provide views of the surrounding landscape.
Each level of the two-story apartment has views of the wine area through floor-to-ceiling windows at the ends of each rectangular building, which is a minimalist gesture with remarkable structural chutzpah.
A home in the middle of a vineyard is settled by two perpendicular prisms resting one on the other, giving it a sculptural aspect and serving as a beacon in the landscape. The View Hill Home maintains harmony with its environment.
Structure, Interior and Exterior | Denton Corker Marshall
Two long metal tubes, one oriented north-south, and the other east-west are used to construct the house’s primary structure.
A rectangular box covered with corroded Corten steel ribs is placed in the ground. A second black-clad box is artistically cantilevered nine meters over the entryway, elevated above it, and positioned at an exact 90-degree angle.
Naturally, the house creates a compass, but it also appears on the horizon as a bold, somewhat dolmen-like mark.
The simple house serves as a frame for the surrounding scenery from the exterior. Inside, the glass ends of the “boxes” create panoramic views of the surrounding hills.
Denton’s sculptural, telescoping home combines two straightforward rectilinear forms, one sitting perpendicularly atop the other and cantilevering 29 feet to the south and 19 feet to the north. It is surrounded by mountains of the Great Dividing Range.
The ground level’s longitudinal component (6×4 m section), which is entirely supported by the ground, serves as the support for the top floor (4×3 m section), which is positioned perpendicularly.
The bars are arranged within the home in service block-based basic box-like spaces. The living space, which is in the middle of the tablet, is the focal point of the ground floor, which also includes the bedrooms on each end. Two guest bedrooms as well as a study are located on the top floor. This configuration lets the top volume stand out for its massive overhangs, in a remarkable structural exhibition, reaching 6 and 9 meters at either end, with no additional support except the contact between both prisms.
Innovative Construction Techniques and Materials
With a noticeable lack of curves and an emphasis on broad swaths of plain, monotonous materials, such as stained strand board, and solid balustrades, furniture and fixtures are similarly minimalist.
The upper bar is covered in black powder-coated aluminium, while the bottom bar is covered in Cor-Ten steel. Both are lined on the inside with oriented strand board that has been dyed green using waste materials from the production of pine. The ground-floor living/dining area’s large window is covered by 13 by 12-foot perforated steel panels that lift in three pieces to form a pergola. The panels’ complicated design required hiding their electric motors within the ceiling. According to Denton, the doors had to function in strong winds yet managed to have little framing.
The enclosure of perforated Cor-ten steel sheets folds on the glass side of the living area, allowing the exit and the direct connection of the interior with the external and creating a protective feature of the sunshade kind. The boxes are perforated at key locations along the perimeter of the volumes, but the glazing of the apertures is concealed beneath perforated sheets, minimising the discontinuity of the surfaces.
Both artworks are clearly distinguished by their materials. The upper tube is coated in black aluminium, while the bottom prism, which is in touch with the ground, is surrounded by Cor-ten steel sheets.
Sustainable approach | Denton Corker Marshall
A bespoke system air-to-water heat pump coupled to hydronic floor coils on the lower level, a hydronic panel on the upper level, and special air handling devices on both levels are required for an energy management or building automation system.
Sustainability is vital since we live in a rural area, the architect believes. The home utilises recovered blackwater for irrigation, filtered and treated rainwater for the tap, and grey water to flush toilets. It also features a highly insulated building envelope.
The home is connected to two 22,500 litres of potable (rainwater) tanks for potable water and one 6,700 litre pumped dam water tank for toilet flushing through a dual pipe system. There is no municipal water system.
Epilogue
As a consequence, a building with a resonant gesture, a minimalist character, and an emphasis on sustainability was created. The structural presentation also introduced abstract and sculptural overtones into the volumes. From a distance, the home appears to be more than just a structure; it is seen as a landmark in the landscape.
