Rice House, Eltham

The Rice House is a residence located at 69 Ryans Road, Eltham, Victoria, Australia, built from 1952-53. Designed by Melbourne architect Kevin Borland for a young couple, whose open mindedness and excitement for progressive/alternative ways of living allowed quite a different archetype for housing, the house is notable for its unusual construction technique and use of materials. Rice House was the first experiment of three architectural explorations in Melbourne, and saw the development of a recognisable Melbourne regional style of architecture.

Young artist Harrie Rice and wife Lorna were a young couple whose exposure to The Age RVIA Small Homes Service saw them fall in love with modern housing design. An attempt to meet with Kevin Boyd at RVIA Small Homes Service led Harrie and Lorna to meet their architect Kevin Borland.

The house is made up of two structures, in which a series of catenary arches form the outer walls and roof as one self-supporting superstructure, connected by a covered walkway. The main house consists of four arches supported by brick and concrete walls which also define a series of interconnected rooms, housing the study, dining, kitchen, laundry, living, master bedroom and bathroom as well as multiple courtyards.

The second structure consists of two arches and was originally designed as a garage/studio but in the mid-1950s was refitted under Kevin Borland's supervision as a self-contained flat for their two children.

The covered walkway consisted of a succession of metal frames with 'draped' reinforced concrete, formed between. The clients regarded this as a 'structure of great beauty' however due to moisture penetration, the structure met its demise from rust and the expansion of the reinforcing.

In 1973, Borland designed the carport and extension of the kitchen area at the rear southern side of the main structure which is sympathetic to the design and siting of the original house. Borland extended the flat roof covering the laundry to create a carport for three cars and a couple of necessary storerooms.

The interior of the house was comparable to caves occupying small spaces and volumes. The invention of these structural moves were developed by Borland using metal columns for the front porch will later failed and buckled due to the expansion of the material and the movement of the form work.

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Wikipedia