Layered Form

Architects EAT projected a beach house for a family in the Australian seaside resort of Flinders in which the owners can invite and accommodate friends and families over.

A single row of mature popular trees, along the side unsealed road, forms a soft foreground to what the architects have considered as the “main” façade of the house. Shadow of the trees cast on to the white concrete masonry blocks in the morning, animate the longarticulated façade. The articulations, through the masonry and concrete detailing, together with the frustum roofs and layering of spaces, evoke street engagements and curiosities. These pose a polemic to the long façade which is essentially a defense mechanism to provide and suggest domestic privacy. The formal entry sequence starts from entering the pedestrian gate on the main street: the dusty pink brick pavers provide the conduit between the native garden and the build structure. Through the gap between the long façade and the garage, an outdoor shower is provided for washing down the wet gears from the sea, before the space opens up to the inner outdoor sanctum. Instead, walking on the walkway, from a huge French window on the left you can glimpse a living room with two blue sofas. There are also a couple of artworks, some white coffee tables - all assembled with a round rug in different colours.

I’ve set myself an ‘urban’ design task to design something that speak of its location, to create a dialogue to the streets. However, the real challenge is to balance domestic privacy and how this dialogue is created.

Once inside the house, the 2 largest of the frustum roofs reveal their internal structure: reverse step concrete pyramids. The skylight in the centre of them provide all day illumination to the spaces. The heaviness of the structure makes the external masonry feel like eggshells, with complex engineering and detailing make the exteriors all the more minimal. On the right the first pyramid surrounds the living area composed of a bright blue corner sofa that form a geometric contrast with the rest of the room marked by sharp edges and straight lines. On one wall, the architects hung two paintings with pink and yellow shades to give the room a warm touch.

There are also artworks on the opposite side, but with a different style: the various shapes in black on a white background. Two black armchairs have been positioned below. Finally, a brass suspension in the center of the room brings a touch of shiny.

Instead, continuing straight, the second pyramid is reserved for the dining area. The round dining table and chairs, all in black, define the space. The kitchen is placed between two pyramids: the cabinets are made of wood, the same used for the beams, thus creating a fluid environment; there is an immense island which is bordered from the living room by a step and a black fireplace.

We want a house that offers to the client a different experience than their city abode, a house that provides a sense of escape, a world away from their city existence; a house that their kids can reminisce their summer holidays when they grow up, a house that is memorable, under the concrete pyramids, their giant tents.

The dining area has its own courtyard where the architects have put the barbecue deck that fits perfectly into the environment. While both internal living spaces look into the main north facing courtyard garden where the family gathers and entertains. Many of the spaces that are conceived in this house are to facilitate these collective experiences. For the kids' bedroom, the architects applied the same concept too. To save space but also ensure a playful environment, bespoke wooden bunk beds with the black metal stairs have been designed.

In this part of the house, a room has also been positioned which contains only a white round bathtub with hand shower tap in steel. There are no particular finishes or furniture, just a wooden stool. This minimalist choice is due to the request to have a space to completely relax so a simple and clean design was essential.

The master bedroom, like the living rooms, has a few shades of bright blue. This time we find it not in furniture but in home accessories. A bedspread in this color matches the rug on which the bed is placed. As in the whole house, the paintings could not be missing in this room; they too have blue tones. In the master bathroom, both the floor and the structure of the sink have been covered with the pavers, the same ones that we find in the rest of the house.

We were attracted by the warmth of the pavers, and the possibility of them being used other than on the ground. We’ve chosen to expose the frogs in the bricks and use them as a feature, from bathroom vanity, to external bench, to internal walls, to kitchen kickers, almost every opportunity that we can think of!