Houses Australia - April 2018

Architect

Dickson and Platten

Practice profile

Robert Harold Dickson and

Newell Platten established

Dickson and Platten in 1958.

The practice developed a

“friendly and more relaxed

form of modernism” specific

to Adelaide that was

defined by red brickwork,

expressed off-form concrete

structural elements, straw

ceilings, exposed timber

trusses and “robust” internal

carpentry. Platten left the

office in 1973 to join the

South Australian Housing

Trust, leaving Dickson to

oversee the practice.

07

quips that when neighbours remarked that

the carport “made the house,” he replied,

“Yes...itbroketheownersbut it made

the house!” Barbara recalls that “in the

early days people kindly didn’t mention

the house when they came to visit. They

would admire the neighbours’ places but

saynothingaboutours!Ourdaughter’s

school friends thought it was the end of

theworld.”Nowitisregularly admired

by casual visitors and coveted by the next

generation of grandchildren, for whom

thepatchyinternetreceptionis the only

obstacle to a completely contemporary

lifestyle.

Fifty-eight years of uninterrupted

occupation by one owner must be close to a

record for the Revisited series, and Barbara

andGrahamhavenoimmediate plans

toleave.“It’sdifficulttoimagine living

anywhere else.” Barbara’s sentiments are

understandable, for what this home has is

thoughtful roots; not just into its setting,

but also to its time. A time when there

was a sense of optimistic, environmentally

sensitive and realistic ambitions for

making your own place with a like-minded

community of people.

Perhaps we can see similar tenets

(albeit of very different density and

urbanity) in the emerging Nightingale

housing projects. I’d like to think so, for

this house offers a model of clarity about

what matters in accommodating daily life:

light, connections with the natural world,

ease and sociability. And refreshingly,

in a time of overblown, extravagantly

bespoke projects in our housing sector, it

does so with grace and humility. The only

thing ostentatious about this house is its

resolution. And maybe for Dusty the dog,

an excess of stairs.

07 The disposition of

spaces takes maximum

advantage of north

and south views to the

attractive surrounds.