Kefi House

A generous home for a young family. Kefi House takes full advantage of the quintessential Sydney lifestyle: enjoying prized Harbour views; a sense of relaxed luxury imbued throughout flexible living and entertainment spaces; and an easy connection to a lush private garden and swimming pool.

The site has a spectacular outlook to the east, over North Harbour toward Manly. Leafy district views to the west, allow the sunrise and sunset to spill deeply into the rooms of the house. These dramatic views came with a challenge, in particular, the land’s gradient steepness from the street created a dilemma in planning, locating and detailing the entry.

Ultimately, the design decision to create a garden stair to a midway entry unlocked the opportunity for an open plan that allowed broad sight lines from the kitchen, taking in both living spaces, the panoramic views to the east, and the western lawn and pool to the west. This arrangement is also particularly successful in providing easy visual surveillance of the younger family members while allowing a comprehensive connection with the harbour view.

With a brief direction for a Mediterranean influence, the palette of materials was kept natural, textural and raw. It is intended that the palette weathers naturally over time. Against the undulating texture of the white rendered walls, hardwood timbers will grey. Lush planting will creep, climb and tumble over the expressed stone cladding of the base. In time the olive trees and broad-leafed banana palms will screen the neighbouring properties and create a sense of private sanctuary.

Kefi House featured in Australian House & Garden magazine, read the article here.