Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: A Cool Place to Call Home After a Hard Day's Mustering
Aussie architects snap up a third global award for their innovative take on workers' accommodation, on a remote cattle station way out west
In a radical departure from the baking hot, tin-roofed living quarters endured by musterers and shearers on cattle and sheep stations since European settlement, Luigi Rosselli Architects took a novel, eco-friendly approach with this project – they designed 12 rammed-earth apartments and dug them into a sand hill. With walls made out of soil and gravel from the excavated hillside and nearby river, the smart accommodation offers cattle station workers a naturally cool escape from the extreme temperatures and harsh climate up north in Western Australia.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Workers stay here for several months each mustering season
Location: The Pilbara, WA
Size: 12 earth-covered apartments adjoining a rammed-earth wall
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Workers stay here for several months each mustering season
Location: The Pilbara, WA
Size: 12 earth-covered apartments adjoining a rammed-earth wall
The 230-metre-long rammed-earth wall (the longest in Australia) meanders along the edge of a sand dune and encloses 12 earth-covered residences. Iron-rich, sandy soil was extracted from the local clay pans to make the walls, along with pebbles and gravel quarried from the river bed. The result is a colour palette that blends seamlessly into the landscape. The pavilion at the top serves as a meeting room and chapel.
Construction is often difficult in remote regions – transporting building materials and getting contractors to relocate for the duration of the project takes some doing. Using what’s already there is a smart move. “The use of earth from the site for walls greatly reduces the time and embodied energy of the project,” says architect Luigi Rosselli.
The rear walls of the residences are buried under the sand dune. “The low embodied energy of the earth walls and the lack of need for air-conditioning in the hot climate of the station are wonderful outcomes,” says Rosselli.
The below-ground apartments are hidden from the other residences behind.
As the trees and other vegetation mature, the apartments will further blend into the landscape. Tim Davies Landscaping supplied the softscape components of the project, including screening, planting, turf and irrigation. “Due to our experience in the region, we identified a selection of high-performing species (both native and non-endemic) that would complement the architectural style of the accommodation,” says managing director Tim Davies. “The material selection was to be sympathetic to the surrounding habitat, making reference to the unique landscape of the north-west region.”
The oval chapel overlooks a family cemetery and the ghost and river gums that line the riverbank beyond.
The project has just been announced as a Terra Award recipient, a UNESCO-supported prize that recognises global excellence in contemporary earthen architecture design and construction. The Terra Award is the latest of three international awards for the project, the other two being an ArchDaily Building of the Year and an Architizer A+ Award.
The residences are stepped to provide a measure of privacy on each covered verandah. There are no internal doors linking the apartments.
The residences are stepped to provide a measure of privacy on each covered verandah. There are no internal doors linking the apartments.
University of Western Australia (UWA) associate professor Daniela Ciancio says WA leads the way in rammed earth building in Australia, but that many people continue to have the wrong idea about it. “They think it will get washed away in the rain,” Ciancio says. She points out, however, that some of the world’s most famous landmarks prove otherwise: China’s Great Wall, some of which dates back to the 5th century BC, Spain’s 14th-century Alhambra Palace and India’s 14th-century Basgo Fort, for example, were all built using rammed earth.
Ciancio, from UWA’s School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, is researching rammed earth structures as potential housing for indigenous communities in remote areas. As well as being strong and durable, rammed earth homes are more affordable for remote communities because there are no expenses incurred in transporting materials or having to pay and accommodate skilled labourers.
Ciancio, from UWA’s School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, is researching rammed earth structures as potential housing for indigenous communities in remote areas. As well as being strong and durable, rammed earth homes are more affordable for remote communities because there are no expenses incurred in transporting materials or having to pay and accommodate skilled labourers.
The awnings are designed to keep the sun out during the hottest part of the day, but to invite the workers outside to enjoy the cool evening breeze … and possibly a beverage or two after work.
The awning roof is a Corten steel cyclonic shade frame, mirrored by a concrete slab on the ground. The concrete slab contains gravel and aggregates from the local river, which give its polished surface a reddish colour.
The northern end of the rammed-earth wall tapers down to an older building used as a communal meeting and sitting area. A pergola made out of old drilling pipes provides a checkerboard of dappled light.
Inside, it’s cool and comfortable thanks to the 450-millimetre-thick rammed-earth walls and the metre-deep sand hill above. A restrained, natural and robust selection of materials and furniture features throughout.
Needless to say, any workers staying here love it and don’t want to leave – the accommodation is a cut above the rudimentary workers’ digs that are standard on rural properties across Australia.
Needless to say, any workers staying here love it and don’t want to leave – the accommodation is a cut above the rudimentary workers’ digs that are standard on rural properties across Australia.
The chapel forms the apex of the sand hill. The architects originally envisaged the chapel as an open structure, but later added sliding curved glass windows to the design to provide protection from dust storms. The windows are strong enough to come through cyclonic winds unscathed. A hundred-year-old family cemetery lies below the chapel; the fence keeps the local fauna out.
Gold-anodised aluminium sheets line the ceiling of the chapel/meeting space.
The roof is made from Corten steel sheets, forming an oblique cone and culminating with a skylight in the apex. The roof was fabricated off site and transported in two halves. The glass-covered oculus, oriented to the east, was inspired by the Roman Pantheon.
TELL US
What do you think about this approach to workers’ accommodation? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.
What do you think about this approach to workers’ accommodation? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.