123 House
Posties delight, suspension spring, wobble, community, product design, memory of place.
This letterbox was designed to complement a house full of stories about memory of place for the owners who had owned and operated a former Ampol petrol station on the site of their new house for over thirty years. The vehicle suspension spring base to the column is just one of many cues to the history of this site.
The design service provided by Neil Cownie included concept design, prototypes and detailed design in the realisation of this unique letterbox.
CLIENT BRIEF
My client’s, Stan & Anne, simply required a functioning letterbox that suited their new house. When Neil presented the concept design for a custom letterbox, Stan loved it so much that he insisted on getting it fabricated himself.
HISTORY OF PLACE AND PEOPLE
The site on which 123 House now sits provided many fond memories for the local community and for my clients. My clients Stan & Anne had provided the community with excellent warm and friendly service as they owned and ran an Ampol service station on this site for thirty years before decommissioning the service station and subdividing the site to sell two single residential sites and maintain the one on the corner for themselves.
The house designed for the now retired Stan & Anne enabled them to return to the community in which they are treasured, to enjoy a house custom designed for them that will allow them to age in place. Along with providing the benefits of passive solar design and design to capture the benefits of cross ventilation, the house features many embedded reminders within the building fabric of their former experiences of the service station and their connection to the local community.
ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
Situated at the corner entrance of the home, a freestanding custom fabricated circular letterbox designed by Neil addresses the issue of the house facing both street frontages, while the supporting column of the letterbox represents the suspension springs of a vehicle.
“On presenting the concept drawings of the proposed letterbox to the owners of the house, they loved the concept so much that they insisted on arranging for its fabrication themselves,” says Neil. “The owners and fabricator collaborated to manufacture the leg from an actual suspension spring, and the result is a letterbox that swings in suspension with the push of a finger, much to the delight of even the postie”, says Neil.
The powder coated aluminium circular letterbox has a lockable rear access door and slot below the capping to the top of the letterbox to receive the letters. The suspension spring column is fastened via a sleeve at the top and bottom as the high-tension steel used in the making of suspension springs could not be welded. The base of the column is mechanically fastened to a concrete footing.
SUSTAINABILITY
While not being designed specifically with sustainability in mind, it is hoped that the uniqueness and robust nature of the letterbox will ensure that it has a long life and will be a constant reminder to the local community of the former petrol station that once existed on this street corner.
