The Storehouse

The brief tried to answer 'How can we live with our loved ones as well as our most treasured possessions under the same roof'?

The Storehouse looks to blend a typical dwelling with offsite storage into one.

What were the key challenges?

The owner required space to store many vehicles an equipment that were housed in offsite storage sheds. These included a Barcrusher boat, a caravan, a dodge ram, Landcruiser, BMW M2, a car hoist, 2 x Ducati motorbikes and 13 x mountain/ road bikes.

This was expensive to maintain the situation but selling any of the items was not an option. So the idea was to look at how we could store them under/ around a newly built residence. Not only was storage the issue but how would it look and blend?

The other issue was the fact that the newly purchased block that sat above an adjacent highway, shared a Right of Way with a doctors surgery and was only 628m2.

What were the solutions?

In order for both storage of vehicles/equipment and residence to work together we needed space. This meant that we had to maximise the building envelope and also excavate into the slope of the site. This enabled a 20 x 9m storage shed to be built to the side and under the rest of the house.

The shape of the building envelope also created a unique form that we used to tame the massing an industrial feel. The site also had a substantial fall that we used to hide the size and height of the building.