Does Darwin's architecture suffer from a lack of identity?

Ask a number of the city's leading architects, or perhaps wander through its streets of single-storey, cyclone-proof houses cooled by humming air conditioners, and the answer may be yes.

But this wasn't always the case, according to architectural historian David Bridgman.

In the 1970s and '80s, a pivot towards large companies able to quickly rebuild cyclone-proof housing after Cyclone Tracy was one of several factors that led to a gradual decline in climate-responsive housing.

"We ended up with a lot of housing in new developments that are really quite large houses, but they're quite difficult to live in in the tropical climate unless there's some form of mechanical cooling — air conditioning, really," Mr Bridgman said.

David Bridgman is an architect and long-term Darwin resident. ( ABC Radio Darwin: Jesse Thompson )

"We've relaxed our requirements in the ensuing years and started to develop housing that is a lot more appropriate to the climate, but it's very much the minority in Darwin."

But in some places, examples of unique and distinctive housing stand as relics of a different time.

Flying saucers, radioactive silos

In the 1970s, Darwin's skyline was briefly graced with a UFO-shaped monument to experimental design.

The name Peter Dermoudy will be familiar to many long-term residents — he became infamous for his fondness for making spectacularly imaginative architecture a reality.

He spent part of his 50 years in the town as a government architect working on comparatively sensible defence and government projects.

But when it came to his own home he let his imagination run wild, most notably by importing an iconic ski chalet dubbed the Futuro House.

"I could only experiment on myself with radical stuff like that," he said.

The Futuro home was spectacularly destroyed by Cyclone Tracy. ( Supplied: Peter Dermoudy )

Cyclone Tracy brought the experiment to an early end when debris destroyed the psychedelic house, leaving Mr Dermoudy with little more than the clothes he was wearing and his car.

"And then someone stole my car," he added.

But the chalet's destruction gave rise to more experimentation.

Penniless and homeless, Mr Dermoudy needed cheap cyclone-proof housing fast.

His solution was a zany and mildly radioactive foray into recycled materials.

He salvaged three abandoned steel silos once used to process uranium ore, decontaminated the (purportedly minor) radioactive parts and set to work welding.

The rusty silos certainly attracted attention. ( Supplied: NT Library )

The silos soon stood conjoined in an upright, clover-like formation, cavernous enough to house five storeys and a pool, and outlandish enough to draw scorn from some neighbours.

It baked and rusted beneath the searing tropical sun, but Mr Dermoudy said the circular rooms, five metres in diameter, provided space to escape the heat.

"It was an experiment and I was getting used to and liking living in circles and non-square rooms," he said.

Gothic housing in the tropics

Perched on the edge of the city, built of stone and partly shaded by swaying palm trees, Government House is a far more serious building but unique for a number of reasons.

Government House is a rare example of gothic architecture in the tropics. ( ABC Radio Darwin: Jesse Thompson )

It is the oldest house in Darwin and, unlike many of the city's heritage buildings, has also remained in residential use since it was built in the 1870s — today it is also known as the Official Residence of the Administrator.

Government House also stands as a rare example of gothic architecture in the steamy tropics.

"It's very interesting to associate that idea of a gothic residence with the tropics," Mr Bridgman said.

"It's a house of seven gables; it commands the whole of Darwin Harbour.

"If you have a look there's a number of quirky little details in the house itself, in the little steelwork on the top of the roof, to the way they finished off the ends of the building that all point to that.

"That idea of the building taking in the environment is very much a gothic approach to architecture — the monument on the hill, effectively."

Government House, pictured in 1978, is Darwin's oldest residence. ( Supplied: Wikimedia Commons )

Green Can raises eyebrows

But Cyclone Tracy did not put an end to all creative design.

Among builders and locals in the 1980s, one building by architecture firm Troppo Architects quickly became affectionately known as the Green Can, its corrugated green roof calling to mind a popular brand of beer.

It was borne of a low-cost housing competition.

"Built to cost no more than $43,000, the Green Can was a challenge to all contemporary house designs then being constructed in Darwin," a book about the firm reads.

The Green Can was named after a popular beer product. ( Supplied: Troppo Architects )

The fact the structure was so open to the environment that possums and birds would frequently wander through, was, reportedly, of little concern to its occupants.

However the issue was it had been built, jarringly, in between conservative suburban homes.

"Talk-back radio in Darwin found harsh critics of Troppo's new tropically responsive house," the same book reads.

"It was quite a controversial house because it was set in a small precinct of speculative homes that were, I guess you would call them, rather traditional homes," Mr Bridgman said.

While some were critical, others recognised in its openness a model of climate-responsive design.

The Green Can drew scorn from some neighbours when it was built in 1982. ( Supplied: Troppo Architects )

"They're houses that require, very much, a change of lifestyle," Mr Bridgman said.

"In a way they kind of hark back to the early Darwin architecture when you had that same intimate relationship with the environment.

"You had to live with the environment; you couldn't lock yourself away."