Hasta La Ideas

The walls of this house in Sydney by Australian studio Chris Elliott Architects feature curved openings that look like gills.

The folds create additional windows on the first floor of the three-storey concrete house, where bedrooms and bathrooms are located.

Situated in the seaside suburb of Bronte, Seacliff House overlooks the ocean and has pools on two floors.

The house is partly dug into the limestone, which has been left exposed on the cave-like basement walls.

A study room is located on the roof and opens out onto a terrace, while the remaining rooftops are covered with plants and photovoltaic panels.

Other Australian houses we’ve featured recently include a residence with built-in graffiti and a weekend house with rusted walls.

See more stories about houses in Australia »

Photography is by Richard Glover, apart from where otherwise stated.

Above: photograph is by Chris Elliott

Here’s a more detailed explanation from Chris Elliott:

Design Concept

A house for a family of four.

Everyday life occurs on a platform overlooking the sea. Beneath this the rock is carved out to form a grotto. Above the platform is a protective cocoon for sleeping.

Astride all this at roof level sits a belvedere accessible only via a narrow curved stair, as in a Martello tower.

Site

The site for this house is long and very narrow – a anomaly, a thin sliver of land that was left over from the original subdivision when the famous “Bronte Cutting” was created over a century ago. The rock of the headland was excavated in a large curved groove to allow for trams to climb to the top of the hill on a slight gradient.

The site enjoys spectacular views over the ocean, the adjacent park and the sandstone cliffs and headland to the south. However, it is frequently buffeted by strong winds and violent storms.

The property was occupied by a single story suburban house and overlooked by a number of neighbouring houses. Consequently, there were a number of difficult natural and planning issues and constraints to contend with.

Description

After numerous explorations and sketches it was decided to go with the peculiarities of the site rather than struggle against them. So, a long linear element sits above a row of columns, providing privacy and protection and the upper level whilst allowing the ground level to be open and very transparent.

Above: photograph is by Vladimir Sitta

Cantilevers at each end of the linear element allow for the requisite space at bedroom level while simultaneously freeing up space and providing cover for outdoor areas below.

Above: photograph is by Vladimir Sitta

Structurally, a long concrete box (the bedroom level) sits atop a series of concrete columns that run from the basement up through the living level. The walls at ground level are mainly glass – influenced but not controlled by the rigour of the structural system, rather, they are allowed to curve and weave in and out to respond to site constraints and opportunities at various points around the perimeter. A compact solid core provides stability and contains a stair, bathroom, fridge, cupboards and pantry whilst creating only a minimal visual obstruction.

Above: photograph is by Vladimir Sitta

The ground floor is conceptually a transparent platform. Nature is welcomed in and not excluded. It is ordered by a series of columns and defined by solid walls only where necessary. Glass runs along, around and above the solid elements while large sliding and pivoting glass doors open to outside.

The basement level is conceived as a grotto combining water, rock and light. The solid sandstone foundation stone is carved away to create space. Rather than remove all material as is often done, in various places it is left to invade the space thus connecting in an intimate way the house to the very essence of Sydney – its sandstone base. Water occurs at various levels – a pool, a shallow reflecting pool with bridge and an outdoor bath. At times strong shafts of light penetrate the spaces, as through rock fissures in a cave. At other times when light levels are low strong colours help to create warmth and atmosphere.

The bedroom level, a long linear box is conceptually a protective cocoon, providing comfort and privacy with glimpses out through a variety of openings, with the option of one or two layers of curtains-the first opaque, and the second a translucent veil. On the outside the surface of the box is enlivened with series of curvilinear light scoops. These allow light in and offer selective views out, such as a view of the sky when lying in the bath.

At the roof level, conceived as a belvedere or lookout, a study opens onto a small deck. Here your journey ends with a panoramic outlook over the ocean. A private sundeck with built in timber seating and a fireplace provides a comfortable place to contemplate the ocean and the stars at night.

ESD

Most of the roof is green planted with “pig-face”. The remainder is covered with solar PV panels. All the roof water is collected in a tank below the garage floor. There is no air-conditioning; rather the house takes advantage of good sea breezes, thermal mass and the combination of a double layer of curtains to keep the house cool in summer and warm in winter. Wherever possible recycled timber has been used.

Materials

Australian timbers – recycled spotted gum, and golden sassafras are used for flooring, stairs and joinery. Heavy recycled ironbark planks are used to span the ramp up from the garage and an underground courtyard on the eastern side, obviating the need for midspan support. Brass is used extensively and allowed to tarnish naturally. Some of the brass hardware was custom designed and made on site.

This wood and steel house by Melbourne studio Architects EAT has a huge projecting roof that shelters a first floor barbeque deck.

Named Linear House, the seaside residence provides a family holiday home on the south-west coast of Australia.

A circular skylight punches through the roof of the terrace to create an outlet for smoke from the grill.

A concrete wall splits the building into two long narrow halves. The architects planned both of these sides using the visual metaphor of “beads on a string”, which dictates that rooms are arranged in a linear series.

Ground floor bedrooms and a first floor dining room are positioned on the north side of the house, where they have a view towards neighbouring tennis courts.

A first floor living room is located to the south, adjacent to the outdoor deck.

Architects EAT also designed another steel and wood house that we featured a few years ago – see it here.

Photography is by James Coombe.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Linear House

Linear House is situated on a slight hill, 500m away from the Portsea back beach. The site is a relatively large and newly subdivided lot of 2600m2, and the client wanted a holiday house that will eventually become their permanent family home.

The siting of the house is simple; we placed the house at the highest point of the site, so that its complete elevations can be observed when one approaches the site. This also allows us to orientate the house lengthwise towards the north for passive solar benefit.

We call the underlying principle of our design: ‘beads on a string’ (it is a term borrowed from our 2nd year architectural course where we were required to design a linear house). Revisiting this principle produces an architecture of a pathway where journey is spatially defined by a series of unfolding spaces.

It also deals with spatial narrative as a combination of the memory of the place where one has just passed through in comparison to the expectation of what might be next. This singular pathway has coincidentally become our solution to avoid having pool fences around the lap pool, by providing a child safe sliding door that encloses the dining room.

To further accentuate the linearity, the exterior of the house is encased in horizontal spotted gum cladding, expressed steel beams, as well as sliding timber slats screens. Therefore the house is conceived as a linear timber pavilion with a double-storey concrete masonry spine wall running in parallel to the depth of the site.

The plan is straightforward – bedrooms and dining room along the north look out to the tennis court and down the slope towards Portsea Foreshore. Service areas are on the ground floor to the south, as well as the living room on the first floor, designed to be a winter talking pit or theatherette.

The journey ends with a large entertainment deck on the first floor where friends and family can enjoy a barbeque together in the afternoon, watching the sunset in summer, while kids swim in the pool above the garage.

The project was achieved with a modest budget. All the rooms are relatively small, and instead of open plan, the living room, dining and kitchen are separated to create intimacy in a large house.

The project considers sustainability at a strategic level: space zoning, cross ventilation, solar orientation and thermal mass, as well as utilising rain water storage, solar electricity, insulation and double glazing to further enhance the sustainable outcome of the house.

Architects EAT
Project Team: Albert Mo, Eid Goh, James Coombe, Peter Knights, Shereen Tay, Gerhana Waty

Builder: Mark Southwell
Structural Engineer: K H Engineering
Building Surveyor: Mike Neighbour
ESD Consultant: Sustainable Built Environment (SBE)
Arborist: Arbor Co
Landscape Management: SMEC

Forked tree branches framing this house in southeast Australia were intended by architect Paul Morgan to resemble the sun-bleached kangaroo and sheep bones scattered around the surrounding woodland.

Positioned amongst the trees, the wooden cabin provides a weekend retreat for a small family and contains a living room and kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom.

The zigzagging external columns connect with a system of wooden trusses to form the structure supporting the building’s overhanging roof.

This roof also extends across a driveway at the rear of the house, where the main entrance is located.

A number of trees were felled to make room for the cabin, but were then milled and cured onsite to provide panels for lining the interior.

You can see more Australian houses here, including a cliff-top house inspired by a Picasso painting.

Photography is by Peter Bennetts.

Here’s a bit more information from Paul Morgan Architects:

This project has evolved the building type, the small weekender, by answering a simple question—how does one go into a forest and use the forms of the ecology to build a house?

The project is a small cabin in Victoria’s Central Highlands. The clients are medical practitioners/ academics with a daughter attending university. The brief included a living area, small kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. They asked for a small forest cabin in which they could practice choral signing. They desired a small habitat that connected them with the isolation one finds in a forest, and the closeness to the birdlife.

Click above for larger image

Our practice was interested in the forms of bleached bones of kangaroos and sheep found lying around on farmland. When considering these bones, we were particularly interested in the thickening of the joints required to carry additional loads, and how these structures could be interpreted in found timber. This idea developed into utilising tree forks or bifurcations as the structure for the cabin.

The bifurcations were sourced from forest floors and farmland, and, due to their age, were well seasoned. They were joined to straight columns with internal metal plates by a sculptor. An internal column with radiating beams completed the structure, the complete triangulated truss system attaining great inherent strength.

Stringybark trees were removed from the site to make way for the new house. A mobile milling machine was delivered to site, and the lining boards were milled, cured on site, and then fixed internally. The figuration of the boards in the living room has great character, and relates to the experience of being in the forest. It also results in a minimal carbon footprint for the sourcing and installing of the lining boards.

The design sought to achieve an almost transparent relationship with the surrounding forest, achieved through an eco-morphological transformation of remnant timber into structure. It developed the typology of the small Australian house, conflating it with the precedents of the primitive hut and the tradition of Aboriginal structures.

Continuing our series of stories about security-conscious and bunker-like residences, here’s an Australian holiday home that can be secured with huge sliding steel shutters.

Designed by architects Bourne Blue, the single-storey house in New South Wales surrounds a decked courtyard.

Openings in each of the facades lead to the central courtyard, where entrances to the house are located.

The corrugated metal shutters fasten across the fronts of the corridor openings, as well as around the courtyard-facing elevations.

When the shutters are open these corridors serve as external rooms, filled with hammocks and a dining table.

The openings divide the house into four blocks, separated into living rooms, a set of children’s rooms and two separate en suite bedrooms.

The house is the latest in a string of Australian houses on Dezeen – click here to see more.

Another recent story to feature steel shutters was an apartment block in New York by architect Shigeru Ban – see our earlier story.

See also: more stories about bunkers and other fortified buildings.

Photography is by Simon Whitbread.

Here are some more details from Bourne Blue Architecture:

Project Description

This site, just behind the sand dunes of Diamond Beach on the mid north coast of NSW, is very flat and has a modest view over wetlands. The proximity of the ocean would enable a beachside lifestyle, however the house couldn’t access ocean views to provide the amenity.

The design therefore needed to work in this context and provide the amenity from within. This is a holiday house for a large family, who frequently travel away with other families, so facilities for 10 – 15 people were required.

A covenant on the land dictated that the house was to built using brick and tile.

The design is comprised of four components, wrapping around a central court. Living space, two different adult sleeping areas and a kids area.

The living space has a slab for thermal mass and faces North. The two adult sleeping areas are identical parental retreats at opposite corners, while the kids area has a boys and girls bunkroom and a TV area.

Each of the four components is separated by a roofed deck, which either houses hammocks, a dining space or the entry. A monopitch roof wraps around the courtyard, over all these spaces, simplifying roof drainage and providing unity.

Click above for larger image

Sliding screens of perforated mini orb close off the roofed decks at the edge of the building, so that they are secure when the house is not in use. They also screen the undesirable sun and weather. A second set of screens wrap around the internal courtyard which also protect against inclement weather and cater for prolonged absences.

Architect – Bourne Blue Architecture
Engineer – Izzat Consulting Engineers
Builder – Sugar Creek Building Co.
Completion – 2010
Cost – $520,000 incl tax
Area – 169m2

See also:

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Beach House by Alexander Gorlin	Star House by AGi Architects	Wategos Beach House by Mackay + Partners

This roof of this sea-facing holiday house in Perth jolts up and down to create four irregular gables.

Recently completed by Australian architects Iredale Pedersen Hook, the single-storey house is externally clad in sheets of fibre-cement.

Terraces on the north, south and west elevations provide residents with at least one outdoor area sheltered from the winds at any time of year.

Iredale Pedersen Hook previously designed a house extension with folding surfaces of corrugated metal and glass – see our earlier story here.

Other Australian houses recently featured include a steel-plated bunker with a drawbridge-like flap and a cliff-top house inspired by a Picasso painting – click here to see all our stories about houses in Australia.

Photography is by Peter Bennetts.

Here are some more details from Iredale Pedersen Hook:

Houses

Inhabiting two platforms- one flat and one undulating.

Located at Florida Beach Western Australia, this design emphasises and focuses on the immense Indian Ocean. All space is aligned and extruded through a strict dialogue of plan and section revealing the intensity and variety of this great ocean.

This is a modern day holiday house only one hour from the capital of Western Australia and surrounded by the sprawling Perth suburbia. We are interested in the past and rapidly disappearing holiday homes that once dominated the nearby landscape, houses that embodied the weekender experience designed with restraint, economy and robustness.

This house captures these dying qualities while screening the occupants from the emerging suburban houses and protecting them from the strong winds and storms. A deck is created on each of the cardinal points allowing the occupants to live externally any time of the year.

Our reference point for the design was found in a sketch by the great Danish architect Jorn Utzon, an image of people congregating on the beach under the dense, stormy Copenhagen sky. Uzton translated this in to the section of a church creating a mystical interior; we translated this in to the section of a holiday house that intensifies the experience of the ocean.

The section undulates in relationship to the plan form; each space includes an undulation that is eventually revealed at the beach side as a series of undulations connecting the living, dining and kitchen spaces to the dynamic ocean environment. The section extrudes from the beach end to the street side, those spaces that do not contain a direct view to the ocean maintain the memory of the ocean view through the continuing section.

External cladding is a strictly controlled ribbon of uncut compressed fibre cement sheeting and rough sawn plywood panels, the plywood inhabit the deck spaces and the CFC provides a durable exterior to storm exposed areas. This material restraint references the past holiday homes. While the exterior is tactile and articulated the interior is smooth and sculptured with subtle variations of white paint colour and gloss levels differentiating interior elements and reflecting the exterior.

A continuous band of high performance glass articulates the wall cladding from the roof, the roof overhang is carefully sized to exclude summer sun and admit low-level winter sun. The stretched western overhang excludes the low level sun allowing the occupants to engage in comfort with the setting sun.

The house appears to gently hover above the ground, a recessed concrete platform creates this illusion, the platform connects this house to the remaining holiday houses and the Dawesville Cut bridge, this is first platform that one passes and signifies the beginning of the holiday experience.

Constructed almost entirely of plantation pine timber, prefabricated and transported to Florida, the raw structure appeared like the carcass of a great whale. The use of steel is minimised to a few select areas where thin columns support the dense undulating roof creating tension in the context of the ocean view.

Click above for larger image

The hovering platform is finished with recycled Jarrah and continues between the interiors and exterior as one large plane, the holiday experience unfolds on this platform. Finished internally with Whittle Wax and externally with Sikkens oil, this platform will slowly reveal the marks of the beach and holiday lifestyle.

A native landscape garden surrounds this platform, carefully screening the surrounding suburban houses and providing an additional filter to the Western sun and Indian Ocean. The sound of the sea breeze transforms into an eerie whistle as it passes through the Casuarinas (Weeping Beach Sheoaks) reinforcing the complex, intense and delightful relationship to this environment creating a very West Australian experience.

See also:

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Riverside Museum by Zaha Hadid Architects	House on the Flight of Birds by Bernardo Rodrigues	Casadetodos by Veronica Arcos