Glass House | Room 11

2021 Tasmanian Architecture Awards

2021 Tasmanian Architecture Awards: People's Choice

Glass House | Room 11

residential architecture | houses (new)

Architect Thomas Bailey and client Jonathan Kneebone had an immediate connection upon discussing the site on the Tasman peninsula at Koonya.
Thomas’ knowledge of the micro-climate informed the design process significantly; during colder months, low cloud cover forms in the evening, holding the warmth of the day. This particular phenomena gave the architect confidence to
pursue a courageous response to thermal comfort.

The building is a Tasmanian response to the great glass houses of modernist architecture. It also responds to Thomas’ time living at Porter Hill and the knowledge that passive-designed architecture, which can be tuned to conditions, is comfortable in a mild climate.

The fourth commission by the same client, the close friendship, understanding, and shared discernment has led to an open and intuitive response to client needs where little was said but a great deal was understood.

Client perspective:
How does the design benefit the way you live/work/play/operate/educate/other?

“The Glass House is a remarkable, all-encompassing sensory experience. It provides a reminder of everything that should be important. A connection to nature. A connection to self. A chance to re-focus, re-charge, and re-arrange your perspectives. As a building and entity, it celebrates everything that is essential and nothing that is not. And by reducing time and space to its fundamentals – in a truly magical, transformative and awesome way – you feel entirely human again. For a creative individual like me, the space provides an extraordinary sense of calm from which to dream, invent, think and simply be yourself.”