In 1984 Glenn Murcutt designed a house for us to be built at Bingle Point near Moruya. The design was novel in that the roof is ‘wave’ shaped, supported on a steel frame which was made at Nowra and transported in pieces to Bingie. These were erected and concrete poured around the base of the framework to hold it in place. This required the frame to be aligned to an accuracy of 2mm.
Because the ceilings followed the wave of the roof, they presented novel problems in moulding and fixing the plasterboard. The interior is finished in brickwork abutting steel columns, glass joined straight to brickwork, and glass and metal sliding doors forming the northen (front) wall of the house.
The joining of these various materials presented many problems, with no room for error.
John and his foreman worked on the job personally from start to finish. When Glenn visited he always found things to have progressed to his satisfaction.
John said he would start the job in early June 1984, which he did, and be finished by the end of November, which he was.
We visited the site regularly during construction. It was obvious that John was a very experienced and professional builder who was able to use his imagination and initiative. The standard of his work was uniformly excellent.
The exposed nature of the finishes within the house left no room for sloppy workmanship. They are praised frequently by the many architects who visit it.
We asked John to quote the extensive Glenn Murcutt renovations planned for our Paddington house.
To our disappointment, that wasn’t possible, but he was our first choice.
