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| Glass & Metal bush house |
| Rebecca visits a striking Australian Bush House. |
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After twenty years of constructing brick and timber homes around Melbourne, Meyer Sibbel was inspired by Australian architect Glenn Murcutt to build a glass and metal bush home for himself. Designed and built by Meyer on weekends over two years, he and his wife Carole decorated the house with furniture designed by their daughters. Rebecca has a chat with Meyer Sibbel about his home built to blend with its bush surroundings and bring the outside in.
The Sibbel family have always been synonymous with contemporary design. Sibbel Builders was established in 1954 by Herman Sibbel, a Dutch immigrant eager to transform Australian homes by incorporating innovative contemporary design. In 1968 Herman's son Meyer continued his success, designing houses that incorporated both modern European design and the Australian landscape.
After identifying a growing niche in the market for contemporary clean line furniture Wilhelmina Sibbel, Meyer's eldest daughter joined the furniture business in 1994. Using her father's cabinet making factory she produced a range of bedroom furniture. Wilhelmina's younger sisters Fleur and Meika later joined the company.
Meyer built houses in the 1970s and 1980s in a contemporary ranch style. They are houses with timber ceilings, internal brick feature walls and oriented towards the garden or a view. Meyer believes that older style terrace housing prominent in Australia is not in harmony with the environment. The country and its landscape should be taken into consideration to design light and open houses incorporating the landscape and views.
Meyer and his wife Carole began to look for the perfect bush setting to build their new home and eventually found one with plenty of trees and views of the hills. The house is a long rectangular box of glass and corrugated metal. It sits on stilts and faces south to a view of vineyards and hills.
The living area is centrally located. On one side is a study and master bedroom with ensuite and on the other is a laundry, powder room and two bedrooms.
The unusual roofline is the most striking feature of the house. The roof is almost symmetrical and butterfly in shape which opens up to the trees and sky. At either end a wide central gutter drains into two funnel top drainpipes. Inside the roof is curved and scoops the light to add to its brightness. The butterfly roof is both functional and decorative. The high ceiling allowed clerestory windows to be installed between the tops of the walls and the roof which allows much more light inside. From the exterior the roof appears to be hovering over the house.
To ensure the contemporary design of the house blended with the surrounding bush landscape, Meyer and Carole planted Australian native species such as grass trees and hakea, bottlebrush and wattle. Closer to the house an architectural style garden was created surrounded by a bed of large rive pebbles.
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More Info
Sibbel Furniture Design
12 Centofanti Place
Thomastown VIC 3074
Tel: 03 9465 4700
Fax: 03 9465 4800
Email: info@sibbel.com.au
Web: www.sibbel.com.au
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