A Chicory Kiln Becomes a Sustainable Vacation Home With Endless Flexibility

Architecture 8-8-2019 DWell 265

Mobile cabinetry and thoughtful reuse turn a dilapidated industrial structure into a warm and creative home with open-ended possibilities.

Set next to protected wetlands and close to the beach, House for Hermes is located about 90 minutes south of Melbourne.

With a PhD in ephemeral architecture, a background in fine arts, and a long profession in landscape architecture, Dr. Charles Anderson wears many design hats. So, it was only natural that he and his wife, Tiziana Launech, would want to design and build, rather than buy, their vacation home by the beach.

To flex their creative muscles, the duo purchased a defunct chicory kiln on the northwest side of Australia’s Phillip Island to serve as the base structure for their new home. The decayed building was one of the many kilns that dot the island—relics of a bygone chicory farming industry.

After spending years preparing the decrepit structure for renovation and drafting designs, the couple asked their longtime friend Andrew Simpson, principal at Andrew Simpson Architects, to help convert the heritage-listed building into a welcoming and sustainable home on a budget of less than $280 per square foot.

The converted kiln is one of three buildings on the large coastal property. In addition to the main house, there is the Coldon Home (a guest house and artist studio) and Setters Cottage (a sewing studio).
Peter Bennetts

"The site location had a significant impact on the material choices for the project, as the exterior had to be able to withstand harsh coastal weather," says Simpson. "The architectural response to this history is also evident through the use of raw materials such as recycled timber, shotcrete, stainless steel bench tops, galvanized steel sheet canopies, and steel and stainless steel stair balustrades—all used to celebrate this local industrial and rural history."