stella.
2.5m x 8m footprint
“The Stargazer” This is not a tiny house! This is a lifeboat, a chance to break out of the confines of the white plaster walls of our urban lives. Life is an event, a movable feast. We see this space not as a bubble to protect oneself from the outside world but as a vantage point to imbibe the rawness of experience.
Custom build for Visit Victoria
A connection with the elements and
the stars above.
We seek to usher patrons towards the embrace of the elements, to turn off the l.e.d haze and look up at the stars. How close can we tread the line between modern comfort and the variability of seasons, wind, rain, sun, and mosquitos?
This building is founded on a sturdy 3 axle, custom steel trailer. Recycled hardwood portal frames with custom steel bracing ties and brackets form the main skeleton. Hardwood marine ply and reclaimed weathered corrugated iron clad the exterior.
To break away from the trailer footprint, we have incorporated fold-up corrugated eaves, large steel framed East-orientated glazing, and an operable gas strut window. Through this primary aperture, our bed platform rolls out and cantilevers from the trailer base.
This treehouse-like element is covered from above by the Kundig-esque window and protected from bugs by a mosquito net hung at points from the window frame.
Internally all the structural bones are exposed, and the natural textures of the surfaces are left bare. Toasted cork floors, mild steel elements, and recycled hardwood joinery carry the simplified palette of materials from the outside in.
The bathroom is a continuance of the space and aesthetic, with burnished steel, hardwood detailing, and copper and brass plumbing fittings. The shower is pushed forward onto the trailer’s drawbar reaching out of the building volume. The shower has operable glass louvers to immerse our patrons at once in the landscape and a halo of steamy hot water.
We have explored the parameters
of a trailer-based building with
four key goals in mind.
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Authenticity of Craftsmanship, thoughtful use of reclaimed materials laden with character.
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To break away from the ordinary gable or box form and limits of the trailer, and embrace a sense of the whimsical.
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A connection with the elements and the stars above.
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That this space is an experience platform, not a hotel room, through wood fired cooking, tactile and operable elements, and a connection to the terroir of place at its heart.
