You can watch an exclusive video of the architects discussing the project in Episode 2 of the MCR Lecture Series on ebossNOW brought to you by DULUX.

A holiday home shaped like an origami Klein Bottle, the Klein Bottle House is situated in Australia’s Mornington Peninsula and celebrates the country’s traditional beach houses whilst remaining a practical and useful 21^st century home.

It was designed by McBride Charles Ryan of Melbourne.

The presentation of the World Architectural Festival (WAF) Awards took place during global architecture summit the World Architecture Festival, which is being held at the Centre Convencions International Barcelona (CCIB) this week.

The WAF Awards form the biggest architectural awards programme in the world and are designed to celebrate and showcase the work of the international architectural community.

The Awards are unique as they involve shortlisted architects presenting their projects live to the public and a star studded international judging panel.

The Klein Bottle House was chosen by some of the world’s most distinguished architects and renowned industry experts, beating off competition from a shortlist of 15 entries.

The judges praised the Klein Bottle House design as: 'evoking on every day of the year the enriching playfulness of being on holiday. The house was also celebrated as fitting comfortably within the dramatic Australian landscape.'

Speaking at the WAF Awards Paul Finch, WAF Programme Director, said: 'Yet again we received a huge response to these fiercely contested Awards, with 272 projects shortlisted from 67 different countries.'

'The geographical range and quality of this year’s designs were exceptionally high and offers a real insight into the current condition and diversity of global architecture.'

'Our congratulations go to McBride Charles Ryan architects who thoroughly deserve to receive this accolade.'

Below are comments made by McBride Charles Ryan, regarding the project.

Architect Comments

This holiday home is situated in heavily treed sand dunes directly behind 16th beach at Rye on the Mornington Peninsula, only two hours from Melbourne. There was in this home to be the sense of arriving at a natural and built environment which was unique and in complete contrast to the owner’s city home.

We began with the idea of the spiral, an acknowledgement of the end of the weekend journey to the beach. An Australian icon, McIntyre’s 1950’s Snellman House came to mind. As the project developed we carefully considered where the building should be located, its relationship to the prevailing winds, and possible points of entry, topography and vegetation. Subjected to numerous distortions, the topology of the spiral gave way to the topological classic The Klein Bottle.

We were keen to remain topologically pure, to distort the shape as need dictates but not to appear to sever this form. We were attracted to the idea of the origami version of the Klein bottle, not just because it was able to be approximated in cement sheet (the resonance with the ubiquitous 1950s fibro shack was compelling) but both because of its beauty and the perversity of an origami Klein Bottle. To accommodate ‘rooms’ within the bottle we thought of them like objects inserted (the ship) within the bottle.

The mathematician’s complex topological surfaces like the Klein bottle are appealing to us and many architects. They look like the new architecture of the computer age, and hold the promise of new form and spatial sequence. Radically they merge the floor, wall and ceiling, inside and outside. The fact that there are so few examples is evidence that they are actually almost impossible to achieve in reality. In this project, the Klein bottle was the perfect fit to the constraints of the site. Once adopted, the shape of this building had something of a life of its own, the genie was out and she was difficult to temper. The development was intense, the serious pursuit of joyful nonsense. The result we think is a unique shape and internal space, an unexpected entry sequence and series of new relationships between the traditional components of the home. The process was also a reminder that architecture does not spring naturally from place, and yet it is the beautiful abstract idea, that when carefully selected and developed can suddenly seem as natural as the tee tree that surrounds it.

The building required extensive use of 3d software for both its development and eventual execution. The building is largely steel framed, the complexity of which required our office to develop representations for use in the shop drawing and production process. The building is a lightweight structure largely clad in cement and metal sheet, incombustible and lightweight these materials meet stringent fire overlays. The building harvests water, is double glazed and the large cavities between the external and internal cladding allow packing with bulk insulation. The central courtyard adds cooling and cross ventilation, Windows are hardwood, Flooring bamboo and artificial lighting selected for its efficiency.