The application of vernacular australian environmental design principles on contemporary housing: Lessons Learnt from the Marie-Short House by Glenn Murcutt

Glenn Murcutt’s deep knowledge of the Australian landscape and understanding of the climate challenges resulted in buildings designed to respond, rather than impose on the local context. The unintended greatness of his work lies on his mastery ability to adopt, reinterpret and reinvent the elements found in vernacular Australian architecture. Murcutt’s buildings are narrow in plan, light, airy and in tune with seasonal climatic variations; above all, they are designed to minimise their environmental impact, guided by an unwavering belief that we have to touch this Earth lightly. In this paper, the authors investigated and assessed the impact and implications, which the reinterpreted elements of Australia’s vernacular architecture, (e.g. verandahs, overhangs, roofing shape and narrow spaces) had on the performance and spatial delight of the Marie-Short House. Through computer aided modelling, both daylight and thermal environments were assessed and analysed in correlation with Murcutt’s environmental design strategies, (i.e. enhancing shading and natural ventilation) in order to achieve comfortable spaces, which enrich and enhance the inhabitants’ spatial experience and comfort conditions. The findings revealed that when Murcutt’s simple environmental design strategies, (i.e. natural ventilation, shading and buildings on stilts) were combined with the reinterpreted vernacular elements, they were not sufficient for the house to perform as expected; the results showed that while Murcutt’s natural ventilation strategy, when combined with the shading provided by the verandahs, is fundamental to improve thermal comfort within the house, the blinds and overhangs as designed, are not sufficient to prevent visual discomfort. In spite of this, Murcutt’s work is intuitive yet well-informed and more significantly, it is born from the uniqueness of each place. The combination of Murcutt’s environmental design principles with the reinterpreted vernacular elements, reflected the skilfulness and significance that lies in his work, he envisioned a low energy consuming building that through a permanent connection with nature like an orchestra, adapted and silently merged into the landscape.