Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

DAVID GOLE is a young, Hinterland resident with strong feelings about his built environment.

He is also the director of an architectural firm, Riddel Architecture, with many hinterland projects on the ground giving the opportunity to make a difference to that environment.

For example, he has just completed a clever renovation of a house over-looking the Glasshouse Mountains that was due for a new life.

“We should try to reuse buildings if we can”, says David,” because there is a lot of embodied energy in all of the materials. From a sustainable point of view if you can extend their life then it is a good thing.”

David’s view is that a lot of houses on the Range of the 60s, 70s and 80s were not designed to get the best outcomes fromtheir site or climate. They confront their sites rather than embrace them, their colours and materials are out of sync with the locality, and they ignore the path of the northern sun and available breezes.

David’s recent renovation of a four bedroom clinker brick home on Stanley River Road is a good example. (The builder was Ed Lawley from Maleny).

“Essentially it was making the arrival and living areas functional and making the house respond better in terms of climate – good air flow, ventilation and lighting”, says David. A large open plan lounge room, kitchen and breakfast nook have been added to the rear of the house to bring light and sweeping views of the Glasshouse Mountains in to the house. Queensland timbers such as blackbutt, black wattle and hoop pine ply on walls and ceiling give the house a fresh, contemporary look. New pop out windows frame views of the garden and provide inner space to bedrooms.

A more logical entry was created bypassing the old narrow carport and all the services had to be upgraded – septic, rainwater tanks, hot water service, and all the bathrooms re-finished. Vented skylights were added in the old parts of the house were needed so that all rooms have good natural light.

David is an architect who believes buildings should respond to special environmental areas like the Blackall Range. He believes that buildings should belong to their place using local materials and building forms, responding to the climate and the culture of the place. From this will come buildings that seem connected to our unique place.

“Up here we could take ideas from the rural farm building types and reinvent them in contemporary ways – light weight, inexpensive materials, use of local stone, timber and tin – roof lines that throw back to farm buildings are really appropriate in this landscape.

“Sadly, there is a McDonalds approach to buildings these days, producing off-the-shelf buildings that you can plonk down anywhere. It is a real issue.

David would like to see a broader public debate on the need to consider the aesthetics of our built environment and better site and place-specific design outcomes. Local government really needs to come on board with these issues and the new breed of urban designers within councils are a step in the right direction. He also accepts the criticism that architects could play a bigger role in design education for the wider community, but also thinks that owners need to reject poor design.

“Part of the problem is the perception that architects are only for people who have a lot of money. This isn’t true because we will respond to a range of different budgets.

The budget on the Maleny house was about $400,000 which, considering the outcome, has delivered a spacious high quality renovation, far outweighing the alternative of demolition and rebuilding. As David says, everyone should think very carefully before pushing a house over.

“I think this project illustrates that great design outcomes can be achieved for a modest budget”, says David, “making the idea that archictectural design is accessible to everyone.”