Project: Ciarma Residence ft. Bowral Bricks & Austral Masonry
As a young architect Danny Ciarma was an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style, characterised by strong horizontal lines, broad eaves and a low-pitched roof. Now a property developer, he has retained his enthusiasm for the style, choosing it for his new Melbourne bayside family home.
Danny was determined not to render. “We wanted something that was classical and robust looking and we liked the look of face brickwork.”
Wright used wide-aspect bricks – 300mm wide and 50mm high – to add to the horizontal feeling. Fortunately for Danny, Austral Bricks had just released the Bowral300™ series which are the same size as the bricks used by Wright. (Standard bricks are 230mm by 76mm.)
Danny prepared a series of basic 1:100 plans and sketched out details “as we went. I must admit what did take me back was the amount of detail involved. It cost a lot more than we expected but we weren’t prepared to compromise either.”
Danny was determined not to render. “We wanted something that was classical and robust looking and we liked the look of face brickwork.”
Wright used wide-aspect bricks – 300mm wide and 50mm high – to add to the horizontal feeling. Fortunately for Danny, Austral Bricks had just released the Bowral300™ series which are the same size as the bricks used by Wright. (Standard bricks are 230mm by 76mm.)
Danny prepared a series of basic 1:100 plans and sketched out details “as we went. I must admit what did take me back was the amount of detail involved. It cost a lot more than we expected but we weren’t prepared to compromise either.”
