BUILDING A HOUSE& OTHER THINGS

I started building a house at Angourie in northern New South Wales in late 1972.

That was the year between my two degrees in architecture – a year when, in theory, we were meant to gain ‘professional practice’ by doing the filing and making coffee in an architectural firm. I chose to find some land and build a house.

The slight problem was that by the end of the year I didn’t have much of a building standing. I had to submit a report to substantiate the value of what I’d been doing and I used an exercise book from the local primary school. It’s fair to say that it wasn’t well received, and that I was fortunate to have some supporters in the faculty. I made light of the experience, but in fact knew that it had been valuable.

My design and construction influences were many – friends’ houses, what I’d managed to absorb during my university years, buildings that I saw, or saw pictures of. Simply living on the land in a tent convinced me that canvas ‘walls’ were appropriate.

It was a brave house and I’m proud of it. Many friends contributed to its construction and we had a lot of fun. I did fall off the roof once.

The house would have three entirely separate sections. Stage 1 would be a bathroom and toilet, sited at the very back of the land. Stage 2 would (eventually) be a