ARCHITECTURE IS NOT SINGULAR

Yet another Melbourne house has been published, identified as the Arthur House / Oscar Sainsbury Architects: see – https://www.archdaily.com/999713/arthur-house-oscar-sainsbury-architects. The location was identified broadly as ‘Melbourne, Australia.’ Just as it was with the Farnham House, this information was not much use for a Street View search – see: https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2023/05/itemised-viewing-architectural-eye.html. Like the Farnham House, the architect’s site was checked for a more specific location: the suburb was named as ‘Fairfield.’

The search began; one knew from the images presented that the project was on the eastern side of a north/south road, with the original house having a Federation orange tiled roof. The extension was a rectangle off the back of the house that had a large tree in front of it on the street, and a power pole beside it to the north. There was a white roof beside this house also on the north; the other distinctive feature was that the site had a small shed in the north-eastern corner.

The appropriate Fairfield streets were perused; a small orange roof with a large extension on the east, and a shed in the northeast corner of the site, could not be found in spite of checking the area several times; so the small tiled roofs that had a nearby shed and a tree in front of it, with an adjacent white roof, were looked for. One was eventually found; the Street View was opened: yes, that’s it: 39 Arthur Street. One should have guessed that the Arthur House would be in Arthur Street, just as the Franham House was in Farnham Street: but even knowing this, one would have been struggling, because the extension had not been started when the Google Earth aerial view was taken. It looks as though the project had just begun when the Street View was taken. It was the tree and the power pole, and the quaint Federation detailing that finally confirmed the location.

The context was perused. It was a fairly densely developed suburb; the street was a neatly fenced array of similar Federation homes. One could check: the street view of the project provided by the architect turns out to be true to Street View. The image shows all of the surrounding poles and wires, and the tree without any clever camera locations or any apparent Photoshopping: this was a refreshing change.

The street elevation is the only photograph of the original house included in the published article..

Scanning Street View, one could see the surroundings of this project that are rarely disclosed in architectural publications. Here one has to be happy with an accurate presentation of the street elevation – as actually seen from the street. The difference in the other isolated images is significant; the pristine, carefully framed ‘architectural’ images become stark and vacant when one views them in their setting – knowing the context they deny. We leave out so much more information by being ‘aesthetic’ in our choices, as we concentrate on filling the frame with interesting things. The result is that we have pictures which, in fact, don’t look like the everyday; the whole point of photography, the very reason why we should even bother making pictures with a camera is that we can create images that don’t look like what we see with our human eyes: see – https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2023/04/impossible-dreams-dangerous-paradise.html: we seek out qualities that may not be there. It is this desire to see things differently that remains a concern, as such images become the beginning of new ambitions that continue to chase fantasies.

Architecture is complex and plural, not prim and singular, as Modernism has sought to make it: see – https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2019/03/architectures-two-remote-islands-too.html, https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2020/02/villa-mairea-city-of-solitude.html, and https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-rose-seidler-house-private-visions.html. Street View constantly reminds us of this. Like the wren, we should celebrate our environs and enjoy their complexity and intrigues rather than ignore them with a preferred ‘architectural’ way of seeing: see – https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-little-wren.html.

One of the images provided by the architect: is it the nearby Yarra River? Why?

STREET VIEW

Fairfield, Melbourne, Victoria.

39 Arthur Street, Fairfield.

The architect's map showing the location.

39 Arthur Street, Fairfield.

The house before the new extension had been started.

Houses opposite 39.

Street View elevation.

The 'architectural' street view.

Arthur Street, Fairfield.

Arthur Street, Fairfield.

13 MAY 2023

NOTE

Going back to the site on Google Earth to check the surrounding houses for added context, it was realised that the block of land known as 39 Arthur Street has a rear access from Fairfield Road. Looking at this side of the property, it becomes immediately evident that the project had been completed; that the idea that it had just started when the Street View images were taken was a mistake.

One guessed this state of affairs because the aerial view didn’t show the project, and only a new beam and what might be a string line in the front of the existing house could be seen. The rear view shows the completed extension in its context. The shed on the northeast corner of the site is the garage that is accessed from Fairfield Road.

Fairfield Road

A new side of the project is literally revealed, adding a new complexity to the understanding of this place. Context does make a difference to both experience and understanding.

View of project from Fairfield Road.

ARTHUR STREET VIEWS