Using the photographic genre, Louise Whelan documented the construction and evolution of Peter Stutchbury’s Indian Head House in Sydney’s Avalon Beach.
Indian Head House is a robust home made from in-situ concrete with delicate blue gum joinery and panoramic views over the headlands of the Northern Beaches. Stutchbury architecture has won numerous awards for its unity, clarity and rigour, and his own private residence is no exception.
An upcoming exhibition at the Manly Art Gallery and Museum offers visitors rare, behind-the-scenes take on the private processes of a renowned architect and the construction of his own family home. A fellow Avalon Beach resident, Whelan observed the action over four years while Stutchbury was living onsite in a tent among the activity of his team of industrial designers, fabricators, woodworkers, fellow architects and family.
First ‘smoking’ inside Indian Head House, within the internal courtyard. Left to right: Jarrah Wells, Andy Minter and Architect Peter Stutchbury.
Image:
Louise Whelan
A portrait and documentary photographer, Whelan created an intimate, “real-time” and narrative-based account of the making of a home, in a marked departure from a conventional traditions of architectural photography.
Her artistic practice draws inspiration from an interest in the aesthetics of memory, with photographic works that are often complemented with the oral history discipline. Whelan has a strong interest in cultural memory and the value of the archive, with much of her own works housed within the state and national libraries. Whelan felt that Stutchbury’s private residence could be a “cultural asset” worth preserving in our collective imagination.
“I describe the house as generous. It has aspects of discovery in it; it makes you aware of your senses and it’s generous in its storytelling,” she said. Whelan draws attention to the strategically positioned square openings in the cement walls that provide a privileged snatch of the headland and let in sacred moments of sunlight.
A well-considered square opening window in the front room of the house. This photo was taken during the construction, and there was no roof structure at this stage. 2016.
Image:
Louise Whelan
“It has these square, 20-centimetre apertures that are a gift in the house – particularly for a photographer – that serve as a frame for the headland,” she said.
The house plays with these contrasts of hard and soft. Situated on a north-facing site, the light interacts with the surface in curious ways throughout the day.
“In the morning, it gets the direct, strong sunlight as it breaks the horizon and pours into the front room,” Whelan said. “By contrast, in the afternoon, it offers warm light radiating around the house from the internal courtyard – the heart of the building. That light is so soft, it wraps around the skin and hard surfaces, like a soft cloak.”
Whelan said that Stutchbury’s architecture along with maker Jeffery Broadfield’s woodwork “never shies away from ancestral responsibilities”.
“In one part of the house, there are these wooden stairs with brass plates on the side. As they were being installed, they were missing something, and Jeffrey had this piece of 10,000-year-old petrified wood that he inlayed into these stairs; everything has a story to it,” she said.
Kitchen table looking into an internal Courtyard with walls adorned with the artwork by Lin Utzon, daughter of Danish architect Jorn Utzon. 2022.
Image:
Louise Whelan
Elsewhere, the craftsmanship is evident from the tongue-and-groove blue gum joinery to the carefully considered viewpoints. In what Whelan describes as the heart of the home, the interior open-air courtyard walls are adorned with artwork by Lin Utzon, daughter of Danish architect Jørn Utzon, in a textured tile, cement and slate mural.
Whelan said that at golden hour, the ban-saw dust from construction activities acted as a light diffuser on the building site, casting a cinematic haze when salt air meshed with floating fine-wood particles. “I got to know the site intimately; I got to know the light, and where to place myself in certain times of the day,” she said.
During the inlay of the stairs, ban-saw dust acted as a light diffuser during golden hour.
The stairs were completed with a 10,000-year-old piece of petrified wood, sourced by maker Jeffrey Broadfield, that was once a living Murray Redwood tree. 2017.
Image:
Louise Whelan
As her four-year project drew to a close, Whelan experienced the complicated sentiment of satisfaction tinged with sadness when the home had taken its form.
“I was missing the open site as it started to close down and there more obvious signs of occupation by Pete and his family,” said Whelan. “That’s when Fernanda [Stutchbury, Peter’s wife and fellow architect] said to me, ‘That’s what happens to an architect’,” she said, describing the experience of relinquishing co-authorship of a project to the client. “I experienced that,” Whelan said.
Louise Whelan’s photographs and film will be on exhibition from 2 September to 16 October at Manly Art Gallery and Museum.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
