Beck Street is a compromised site, impeded on two fronts by flood from one direction and overland flow from the other. This double threat emerges from the rising Brisbane River from below, while overland flow comes from the hills around Paddington above. “There’s a sewer main running through the site too,” practice co-founder Michael Lineburg explains, “and it has three significant trees on the property, which are great constraints to work with, but they’re still constraints.”
The project is a balance of contrasts, initiated by the conditions below and above the flood plain. This delineation is made between the lightweight upper construction of the house and masonry
