Out of sight from the main road behind orchards and extensive landscaping, this house nestles in a long shallow valley forming a natural cliff top amphitheatre above Western Port Bay. The entry, off the curving driveway-courtyard, pushes down through massive stone screen walls into a double height space lit by an arching clerestory. Stairs lead down to the living areas and the views beyond, and up to the bedrooms and studies. Throughout there is a palette of companion materials, with timber’s qualities highlighted by being brought together with stone and copper in dramatically modulated natural light. The rough-textured stonework contrasts with the delicate detailing of the timber ceilings and the balustrades, and throughout a sense of intimate enclosure is set against visual connections to the gardens, grasslands and seascape beyond.
The house was conceived as a bent cruciform both embedded and emerging from the sloping site. A tension is created in the flex between a convergent focus back into the site with sunken gardens and arced stone walls protected from the south-westerly squalls, and an elevated radial expansion connecting with the wide horizon of Western Port Bay and French and Phillip Islands. A balance has been sought between these forces and their consequent intimacy and exposure.
In the demanding maritime location, the building has a robust and hardy appearance at the arrival point: a constructed landscape of sweeping stone and sand. However the jagged two-storey stone walls are softened by a series of cascading canopies with warm timber linings that shelter a welcoming path to the entry door. Inside, a timber floor flows between stone walls, leading through to the family living rooms that overlook the ocean. The Sydney blue gum staircase, cascading around a massive stone bastion like a waterfall, gives access to the bedrooms upstairs, and its movement is emphasised by the design of the balustrade, combining timber with delicately curved copper rods. Above this double height space the arched ceiling is pieced by clerestory windows, and its gentle curve is emphasised by light timber battens fixed across the surface. The combination of these arcs in three dimensions gives life and interest to the entry space, with ever-changing relationships between the different elements and combinations of material and shape.
From the entry the external stone walls step down towards the coast, forming a solid battered base to the house above which a more delicate series of structures enclose the living spaces. Vertical timber batten and board cladding of radially sawn silvertop ash has copper details, and an attached conservatory is formed from robust recycled Karri timbers with louvred glazing. To one side a timber deck extends out and, folding up and around, creates a swimming pool platform and spa area with extensive use of Jarrah, and a series of protected terraces and balconies provide spectacular views across Western Port towards the islands.
Shoreham, Victoria2005