A narrow rear yard turns into an exclusive pied-à-terre: Oliver du Puy
densifies a barely 4.2 meters wide plot, filling it with a London-based businessman’s refuge in the southern hemisphere.
Following a specific request from the client, the Skinny House is certainly an urban residence, located in the hearth of Melbourne, but it seeks through its spaces and atmospheres to mitigate the discomforts of an hectic life, spent in the world global metropolis.
Amongst the examples used for the conception of this project, which is overtly intended to “have a de-stressing effect”, du Puy understandably cites Tadao Ando, and more specifically his early domestic works. A more surprising reference, and certainly an ironic one, is Patrick Bateman’s New York flat from American Psycho, which is here stripped of the madness that it both hosts and embodied in the movie.
Skinny House in Melbourne fills a barely 4-metre-wide plot
Oliver du Puy designs a minimalist house, conceived as a tool able to relieve the stress of an hectic metropolitan life.
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, Melbourne, Australia, 2019. Photo © Tom Ross
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, ground floor plan
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, first floor plan
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, second floor plan
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, roof plan
Oliver du Puy Architects, Skinny House, long section
View Article details
- Alessandro Benetti
- 19 April 2019
- Melbourne, Australia
- Oliver du Puy Architects
- 180 sqm
- private residence
- 2019
In his designer’s words, “the spaces of the Skinny House are structured like a haiku poem, into a suite of intimate moments increasing in privacy as one ascends the building”: on the ground floor, a guests bedroom opening on a little patio; on the first level, the elongated living room open space; to conclude, on the second floor the master bedroom and its salle de bain. Fair-faced concrete, oak wood, stainless steel and marble are the few materials selected for a minimalist building, whereas the solid concrete frame aligning on the street front is an unexpected touch of monumentality within such a small-scale project.
- Skinny House
- private residence
- Melbourne, Australia
- Oliver du Puy Architects
- Oliver Arbes du Puy, Charlie Singh
- Isabel Migliore
- 180 sqm
- 2019