This house is on a steeply sloping site in the Bronte gully backing onto a park and within 200 metres of the beach. The client requested a casual family home which is easy to maintain but which captured the ambience of its environment and capitalised on its unique opportunities.
The house is separated from a carport by a rocky landscaped courtyard which creates a quiet, private context for the house. It consists of a series of concrete split level floor plates which descend 9 meters down the site to a lush green north facing garden. The top levels of the house are the living areas while bedrooms and more private family spaces are revealed on the lower levels. The clients’ art collection is revealed on the circulation path through the house.
Water detention, hydronic heating and storage are packed in the lowest level. The house straddles a subterranean watercourse which was exposed below the previous house during construction. A number of floaters were bridged and stabilized on the site and some left exposed to provide a “sense of place”.