Glenn Murcutt: Marika-Alderton House: The House

Chosen Exemplar House

Name: Marika-Alderton House

Architect: Glenn Murcutt

Location: Yirrkala Community, Northern Territory, Australia

Date: Completed in 1994

(Fromonot, 1995)

Designed for the artist Banduk Marika and her family, this house by the sea in the Northern Territory presented Glenn Murcutt with multiple challenges. Davies (2006) states that the problems were both technical and cultural, how to create a tolerably comfortable domestic environment in the selected climate without relying on culturally alien technologies such as air conditioning. To make the challenge more interesting, the site was also liable to be battered by hurricane-force winds and surge tides.

The house is entirely built without glass and according to their orientation the walls are composed of broad plywood or slatted tallow-wood shutters that can be tilted outwards to take advantage of the cooling sea breezes. The outside of the structure is covered in vertical fins that prevent the morning and evening sunrays from reaching the outer wall while also assisting the natural cross ventilation process as written by Fromonot (1995).

Davies (2006) writes that the Marika-Alderton House is an entirely prefabricated building, made by a couple of yacht builders in Sydney. This is an economical building, almost agricultural in character that caters for the Marika family and responds to the climate in a completely sustainable and functionalist manner.

Glenn Murcutt’s idea of “to touch the Earth lightly”.