Guilford Bell

Uncommonly, Bell contributed to local and interstate projects including homesteads, pavilions, suburban houses, large commercial and industrial establishments.

Bell was initially educated at the Queensland University of Technology until the dis-accreditation of his qualifications resulted in his relocation to England where he joined the practice of Albert Richardson.

The architecture of the middle east may have influenced the young Bell, with elements such as enclosed courtyards and arcaded loggias later appearing in his work.

[2] Opening in 1950, it consisted of a large central dining and lounge with entertainment stage, and a series of simple skillion roofed cabins symmetrically arranged either side.

Although both had similar architectural leanings in their obsession with privacy and blank walls, the pair terminated their joint practice in 1964 due to fundamentally differing design ideas.

This is why "an integrated sequence of interior and exterior spaces",[4] was affiliated to combine the living quarters around a centred terrace and swimming pool.

An important element of the design is the structural beams which begin to be expressed internally, and continue to exit externally to frame the northern facing view.

[8] His desire to combine nature and architecture is achieved by the elongated pool and the pond which harmonise the flow of the environment throughout and the garden room inside the pavilion to complete the scene.

The “evergreen laurel hedge”[7] and glazing enclose the 1986 structure to create an order of privacy yet still allowing the boundary of inner and outer space to feel ambiguous.

The design was provoked by a previous work by Bell, a fantasy of simplicity and purity, and the Secculls requested a translation of this garden temple into a home.

[12] The entire property is surrounded by a rendered brick three-metre perimeter wall, within which the flat-roofed F-shaped plan creates two major courtyard / garden spaces.

[18] The distant scenery gives views of the Gippsland Ranges and due to the sloping of the land, stairs have been introduced as a practical and symmetrical way to order the landscape design.