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illustrated articles |
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House at 408 Mona Vale Road, St. Ives (1958)
Ross Thorne
3 pages (illustrated)
This was the first designed house by the author
after his return from 16 months scholarship tour of the Americas and
Europe, and his starting private practice in 1958. He needed the commission,
but the client needed a mock “colonial” (i.e. Georgian) house.
Rather than copy the individual elements of a Georgian house, the question
was, “What provides the visual essence of a Colonial house without
imitating 19th century design items?” The result was a modern house
that satisfied the clients.
File size 2.5MB
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House at 406 Mona Vale Road, St. Ives (1958/9)
Ross Thorne
9 pages (illustrated)
The house, for his parents and the author, was
set back in the centre of a one hectare lot of regenerated bush.
With
the prospect of having adjacent properties sub-divided, resulting in
overlooking new residents, it was decided to concentrate on making
the house private by turning it inwards – to make it mainly a courtyard
design.
The driveway was designed to “mystify” the visitor by curving the drive between the Scribbly Gum trees and sparse sandstone shrubbery. The last bend reveals the wide, very horizontal house.
File size 8.1MB
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House at Fox Valley Road,
Wahroonga (1954)
Ross Thorne
5 pages (illustrated)
This was the first built house designed by the author.
It was during the final year of his Batchelor of Architecture degree
in 1954. It resulted from his education in the Modern Movement of architecture
and received a number of accolades by selection for exhibitions and publications.
The basic design criteria of addressing the aspect (sunshine) and prospect
(view) simultaneously (yet both in opposite directions), is well illustrated
in the photographs.
File size 7.6MB
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House at Castlecove (1960)
Ross Thorne
5 pages (illustrated)
The house was an experiment in speculative good design – an experiment that failed, for it had no influence on the remaining designs of the newly sub-divided pristine bushland estate.
The house, however, was built, and addressed the
rocky landscape by shaping it to fit a large rock plateau above the steep
rough slope down to Middle Harbour and the view north. Due to the site
being below the road the shape of the roof was considered important so
as not to soil the view from the road.
File size 2.5MB
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H. McKenzie Home Improvement Centre, Rhodes (1959)
Ross Thorne
4 pages (illustrated)
The timber merchant, on the edge of the Parramatta
River, had moved into distributing allied building products. It needed
a showroom. Fortunately, it had some spare vacant land adjacent to the
main road.
The company wanted the building to use and exhibit
the materials (that it sold) within its structure and construction. This
was achieved with an innovative structure. All the cladding materials,
except glass, were products sold. Finally, the illuminated advertising
sign was designed by the author to complement the building design.
File size 1.5MB
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House at Palm Beach (1963)
Ross Thorne
8 pages (illustrated)
The author’s own house started on a steeply sloping site as a batchelor’s minimal accommodation. To him, it was as close as he would get to living beside a Swiss lake, for the site overlooked a long and wide inlet from the sea.
Apart from a ground level carport the house was
virtually only two rooms – a two-level living/sleeping space and a bathroom – accessed by a spiral stair.
The house was added on to in 1971 and 1976/77 to
accommodate the product of activities, and guest quarters.
Included are floor plans and cross sections plus
24 photographs of various stages of development from 1963 to 1977.
File size 5.7MB
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House at College Street South, Lane Cove, Sydney (1961)
Ross Thorne
3 pages (illustrated)
What does an architect do when a client insists
on an “ordinary” house that any builder could have built?
That was the issue with this house. The “ordinariness” was
carefully manipulated to achieve a visual expression that no speculative
builder would have produced.
File size 0.6MB
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House at Killarney Heights, Middle Harbour, Sydney (1964)
Ross Thorne
4 pages (illustrated)
The client requirement was for a three bedroom house
with study and living room, to cost no more than a builder’s project
house, but be different in design to such a house.
A grid system was
devised with maximum repetition of elements to provide economies of scale.
It was an early example of lightly sitting a house on ground without
disturbing the landscape.
File size 1.5MB
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House at Whale Beach Road, Whale Beach, Sydney (1967)
Ross Thorne
8 pages (illustrated)
The young professional surfer’s requirements
on a very steep lot of land, were that the one bedroom house had to be “cave-like” and
use clinker bricks and slate roof. It was decided not to excavate but
incorporate the rock outcrops into the design, and step the house up
the steep slope.
File size 4.6MB
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House at McCarr's Creek Road, Church Point, NSW (1965)
Ross Thorne, Julius Bokor and Chris Van Der Veer
4 pages (illustrated)
This house for builder, Chris Van Der Veer and his wife, was on a nightmare site for an architect. Half-way down the steep land-form was a cliff further down to the McCarr’s Creek headwater of Pittwater. The article describes the first idea and what eventuated. It shows its close relationship to the topographic and vegetal environments.
File size 3MB
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Memories of an Acoustic Consultant, 1961 to 1980.
Ross Thorne
16 pages (illustrated)
Previously unpublished
This memoir describes an interest in acoustics
from my final year in architecture, starting acoustic consulting in
1961, and my working with the pre-eminent acoustic consultant, H. Vivian
Taylor (Melbourne), and psychologist, John Metcalfe, for the design
of recording studios. Most work otherwise was commissioned by Joseland & Gilling.
File size 832KB
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House at 2a Burns Road, Wahroonga, Sydney (1968)
Ross Thorne
10 pages (illustrated)
This house, for the author’s parents had the
quite special requirements of separate quarters for each parent, and
had to retain most of the trees and growth on the site. It was designed
as a set of visual experiences from the street through to each suite
of accommodation and the centrally placed living room.
File size 5.9MB
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