By Daniel Marshall Architects
The site is long, stretching from a suburban Mellons Bay street to a sandstone cliff that overlooks the gulf islands. It curls its tongue, flat to the street, convoluting to a natural spring and watercourse two thirds along the site.
An existing 1960's rectangular two storey house sat across the site like a dam, blocking any visual or visceral transition between the street and the sea. The house was in poor repair, largely due to a lack of provision in terms of the watercourse beneath. It was damp and poorly planned, and with a startling abandon, it ignored the landscape in which it was anchored.
The new house was designed for an engaging couple with two grown children. Despite the allure of the seaward end of the site, the decision was made to pull back from the edge and avoid the heroic gesture, to let the landscape re-engage with the sea. Conceptually, the house consists of two elements, oblique and sliding past each other, held in stasis by a bridging element that traverses a section of ‘reconstructed landscape’. The placement and geometry of these elements were derived from a parametric investigation of the site, in terms of the water flow from the road to the sea. This was further articulated by a series of water features that terrace downward through the courtyard into the middle of the house and connect to the natural water course below.
Environmental Considerations
Designers: Daniel Marshall, Nick Sayes, Nick Veint
Photographer: Simon Devitt