A Large scale and highly detailed signal residence designed to sprawl over a large waterfront site.

As repeat clients, an existing mutual trust and respect helped the design process to naturally evolve.

The brief was to create a narrow balancing point of open social expanses and more intimate personal spaces which was achieved through obscuring view lines, operable screening systems and material selection. The clients were also looking for change in the way Queensland summers were often spoilt by unbearable heat and the dry air of conventional air conditioning. This pushed the detailing toward more traditional Queensland design elements: extensive summer shadowing, natural breezeways and an underground low energy cooling system which allows the house to breathe. These details also prevented the rich, natural material palette from becoming unwanted thermal mass.

A collaboration with a small development company

The project was designed to influence change within the standards of suburban development.

The site’s steep embankment led to the house being partially cut into the site, creating ease of access, split living and graduating proportions to reflect the site.

The finished project succeeded in raising the standard for design and construction in the area, and expanded the profile of the development company.  

An ocean view from the bush.

A steep, rocky site falling towards a panoramic ocean view called for an elongated layout using the open living spaces to create separation between the main bedroom and the guest bedroom.

Two skillion roof lines were pitched on the opposing angel of the site to open the internal spaces out to the eastern ocean view.

Locally milled timber was used to clad the house, giving the form reference to its surrounding bushland.  

A practice in timeless design and a relaxed lifestyle.

The client brief was for a simple yet unique three bedroom house, with a focus on entertaining that blurred the threshold between the indoor and outdoor spaces whilst still creating close family areas.

The proposed design responded to the brief by using a suspended concrete first floor slab, cantilevered over round concrete columns that allowed the ground floor to be predominantly wrapped in glass sliding doors, whilst the upper floor was a compact layout of private bedrooms and a small secluded reading space.     

A mid-century modern renovation.

The clients were specifically drawn to the form and function of mid-centaury modern architecture and bought an existing low set, brick house with the vision to transform it into a design that would be tailored to their family’s lifestyle.

The proposed design retains the western living side of the original layout and integrates a split level, compact four bedroom, two bathroom, media space and sunken lounge. This allowed the family space to entertain and socialise, while also providing separate pockets of intimacy. 

The build has been documented to recycle most of the existing materials, blending the character of the existing house through the new design, preventing the renovation from looking and feeling like a thoughtless bolt-on.     

Meeting the market.

The design was part of a marketing campaign for the sale of a small batch land release. The Sunshine Coast site had been redeveloped from a DA-approved high-density unit development into a handful of large waterfront sites. The brief was to illustrate a design that would showcase the potential of the 3,000m2 sites and the sub-tropical lifestyle of the Sunshine Coast. The campaign successfully sold every site.