View of house from the street in 1960…..Red Hill in background
Designed for Professor Edward and Irene Hannan around 1960, while I was Assistant University Designer to Fred Ward in the ANU Design Unit.
It was a ‘ground hugging’ design, typical of my philosophy which aimed at simplicity and the creation of external spaces for family use, well integrated with the landscape. But Irene was somewhat profligate with trees close to the house which will now be a problem if solar access is required in a more energy-hungry era.
In those ‘pre-solar awareness’ days there were few environmental parameters which determined the design, other than a northern orientation for sunlight penetration. The design demands of sustainability were yet to emerge as determinants.
The fireplace hood was an iterative design based on what I had tried out with the Paral house at 22 Brockman St. Narrabundah. (see Paral entry ~1959 this folder)
The brick floor throughout was my first trial of an ‘earthy’ simple floor surface. It was very successful as an easy clean surface which had a thermal stabilisation purpose.
The sons Patrick and David 1 rescued the dining suite of 8 of my chairs and a Fred Ward table. I was able to buy it back but ended up selling it to Nick Hall in 2014 (36 Chataway Cres. Fadden 6292 8532) – it was just too big for our Mawson house. See under DFW Furniture.
Current owner is Stan Platis the real estate agent who was commissioned to sell it!
