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Turning out houses into art houses by Futurebuild

When a client came to Latemore Design wanting a self- contained outbuilding on a sewered, sloping block with specific views for under $70k, he knew he had a challenge. However, with a few canny design manoeuvres and a little help from his friends at futurebuild®, 'problem solved'. Of course, there's always a little more to the story.

Brisbane City Plan's outbuilding provision allows a secondary dwelling on residential allotments, as long as it is under 70 sqm and Latemore Design has tapped into that market. "We've designed quite a few in recent years. These little 'houses' increase use of existing city infrastructure without impacting on streetscapes, plus they are more cost-effective than a normal extension." says Peter Latemore.

"This particular structure is designed to 'float' over the site, and in particular not impact on a sewerage line running directly under it. The location was not flat either, and using futurebuild engineered timbers helped. We were particularly interested in reducing numbers of posts too. And being close to the ground, we had to be mindful of termites."

Queensland, like most of Australia, is notorious for termites. So when it was clear the outbuilding was to be built close to the ground in parts, Peter Latemore knew futurebuild engineered timbers were the only way to go. futurebuild's Hyspan® and Hybeam® products are termite treated to the core with DeterMiteT, during manufacture. The treatment is applied to the glueline so there's no need for treatment on site. How do you know you've got them on site? They're painted bright yellow and are clearly marked H2-S.

But termite protection wasn't the only decider. Peter Latemore explains, "As designers, we always insist on futurebuild products, as we have used them since 1989, and have found them consistently versatile. But all our builders love them, as they are light, dead straight and there's access to good technical support."

The building's unusual design presented its own challenges. Peter explains how these were handled. "The wedge shape of the main 'box' roof was achieved by using Hyspan members as purlins. These straight and high spanning timbers negated the normal doubling up of roof and ceiling battens on rafters, and created a large volume directly orientated to north and the garden." Peter adds, "This also allowed a full section of high glazing at the north end, as it was a non-load-bearing wall." Wind loads were an issue so a Hyspan member, with its thin section, was inserted over the sliding doors. The Hyspan bearers and Hybeam joists allowed the floor framing to be quite close to the ground with no termite concerns. Peter says, "The ability of futurebuild products to span greater distances used fewer steel posts, and allowed us to cantilever the two side projections." Another benefit of this simplified framing is that the small building can be 'unbolted' from its posts and moved away or lifted.

Tie-down was extremely simple, as Peter explains. "Every second purlin was anchor bolted directly to the bearer below, and at projections, a Hyspan member transferred this tie-down, ensuring the nooks could be simply built." And the floor size? "The floor size was dictated by the brief, but we ensured its main floor zone was large enough to build the main side wedge shaped walls onto it, as there was nowhere flat on site to do this."

Since completion the 'pavilion' has become a multi-purpose structure. It has been used for study, dining, as a retreat and even as a master bedroom in summer. According to Peter, the family has affectionately nick-named it 'the tent'. They're obviously a bunch of happy campers.