Oliver du Puy Architecture Ltd.

Skinny House

SKINNY HOUSE

Oliver Du Puy Architects

Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross

ARCHITECTS
Oliver du Puy Architects

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Oliver Arbes du Puy, Charlie Singh

MANUFACTURERS
vola

PHOTOGRAPHS
Tom Ross

AREA
180.0 m2

PROJECT YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Melbourne, Australia

CATEGORY
Houses

Skinny House
© Tom Ross

Text description provided by architect.

Skinny House is an adaptive re-use of a forgotten rear yard of a 19th-century Victorian shop. 

The site is only 4.2m wide (land area of 90m2) built of off-form concrete and dedicated to the rituals of modern living.

Interpreting the Japanese concept of ‘shinrin-yoku’ or forest bathing – a practice that links immersion in nature to good health – the minimalist structure is animated by large apertures and voids which frame a series of vistas out of the building that become part of the landscape of the interior.

Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross

The project sought to draw one’s attention to the beauty in silence and the power of simplicity - the palette is restrained, using raw and precious materials: Oak, Concrete, Stainless Steel and Marble.

Light is used as a mediator between space and form, to change the expression of the interior with time, and in so doing connect the occupant with nature.

The concrete envelope is punctuated to the north with a three-dimensional off-form cross which provides a sort of monumentality and piety to the modest parcel of land but pragmatically allows northern light to penetrate deep into the building's section on both upper levels.

Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross

The spaces are structured like a haiku poem, into a suite of intimate moments increasing in privacy as one ascends the building.

Office and ancillary spaces to the ground, living, and dining on level 1, and sleeping and bathing to level 2.

The client, a high-frequency trader, atheist, and keen meditator, wanted a quiet and spiritual piece of architecture.

Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross

The cross carries a complex iconography associated with sacrifice, atonement, redemption, and resurrection.

This building tries to evoke other associations such as primitive ritual, equilibrium, and connection with one’s own senses.

Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross

Life at the trading desk too often forgets the basics of a healthy, considered life.


Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross


Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross
Skinny House
© Tom Ross


Skinny House
Ground Floor Plan
Skinny House
First Floor Plan
Skinny House
Second Floor Plan
Skinny House
Roof Plan


Skinny House
Secion

Oliver du Puy Architecture Ltd.
T +61 400 344121
Oliver du Puy Architecture Ltd.
35 Richards Ave, Surry Hills NSW 2010, Australia