Architect Neil Durbach believes in the power of curves and their ability to make the most of the “beautiful aspects” of a site.
“With curves, you can create a very relaxed kind of beauty,” he says. “They have a gentle quality that’s not oppressive or controlling.”
Over the past three decades, Durbach and his partners, Camilla Block and David Jaggers, have designed dozens of acclaimed buildings that make elegant use of curves.
Last month, their firm, Durbach Block Jaggers (DBJ), won the Australian Institute of Architects’ prestigious Gold Medal for its “intellectually rigorous, deeply affecting” work, which is characterised by sweeping arcs, long spirals and precise arches.
“Curves allow you to embrace, quite openly, the beautiful aspects of any site, whether it’s a sea view, a garden view or a harbour view,” Durbach says.
That embrace is not always possible with hard edges and rectangular forms, Jaggers says.
“Straight lines try to impose an unnatural ordering system on a site or a view, whereas curves respond intuitively to the natural order of things.”
That’s not to say curves should be used without restraint.
“If you’re not careful, curves just soften everything so that you feel like you’re living in jelly,” Block says.
For a recent house project on the Cape Byron coast, the trio employed curves sparingly.
The home’s centrepiece is an expansive ocean-facing living room with a triple-vaulted ceiling. An oval skylight punctures the middle vault, drawing light deep into the room.
The scalloped roof creates a feeling of safety, Block says.
“In a sense, it is cave-like, and it feels protective. At other times, when the sea is calm, you feel like you’re living on a plateau, with soft clouds above you.”
Durbach says the vaulted forms enhance the room’s sense of scale and echo the curvature of the waves below.
“It was an opportunity to make a single room feel quite complex and rich while also creating the sense of being ‘held’ by the space.”
Another recent home, in Sydney’s Lavender Bay, features a gently curved ceiling that recalls the sail-like forms of the Sydney Opera House, which is visible through the windows.
“Curves allowed us to frame these iconic Australian forms, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, comfortably and naturally,” Jaggers says.
Even when they’re not framing million-dollar views, interior curves can enhance wellbeing, says Michael J Ostwald, professor of architectural analytics at the University of New South Wales.
“Research suggests that the inclusion of a few subtle curvilinear elements in a building’s interior can evoke an inviting, relaxing or uplifting emotional response.”
Ostwald says subtle curves can help inhabitants relax in a room while appreciating the exterior views the space frames – a spatial psychology concept known as “balancing prospect and refuge.”
Like Durbach, Block and Jaggers, he cautions against the over-use of curves.
“Too many curvilinear forms in an interior can create confusion, cognitive overload and even nausea,” he says.
He praises the trio for their approach.
“DBJ’s restrained use of simple rectilinear volumes, connected or punctured by simple curvilinear elements, engages both the mind and the emotions in a positive, even therapeutic, manner.”
One DBJ home, known as Holman House, does away with straight lines. But even it feels understated: the open-plan living area, which overlooks the ocean, extends as a long, loose curve, mirrored by the curvature of the kitchen island.
The house sits on a cliff edge which is not visible from the street. DBJ’s aim, Block says, was to envelop its owners in the wraparound sea view as soon as they stepped through the front door.
“There are no corners in the Holman House, which allows you to come from the street and then move from one space to another, almost without being aware of your change of direction.”
In the garden, an undulating swimming pool follows the curvature of the cliff face, enhancing the pool’s connection to the crashing waves below.
“The entire site, but the garden especially, gives a feeling of being flung out over the cliff edge, and the curves amplify that,” Block says.
DBJ don’t only design houses: they have also created office towers, arts venues and university buildings.
But Durbach says their residential commissions have been particularly satisfying.
“A house takes you on an adventure with a specific person who’s trying to achieve something unique with you. It’s a nimble process, unlike institutional and commercial projects, which are much more cumbersome.”
He says DBJ’s recent Gold Medal win was “immensely gratifying” and an affirmation of their aesthetic approach, which the judges said “has shaped the expectations and ambitions of contemporary Australian architecture.”
Adds Block: “I think they gave it to us because we’re still together after all these years. We’re like the Rolling Stones: we don’t quit.”
Dan F Stapleton writes on First Nations issues, visual art, property and more. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Financial Times and others. He is based in Sydney.
