Mount Coogee House
By Bennett Murada Architects
Rising 25m (about 7 storeys) from the street to the back fence, this site for a new family home presented an exciting challenge. In response, the house consists of four levels loosely stacked around a pool courtyard at the heart of the house, providing privacy and respite for our client’s family.
Year
2014
Location
Coogee NSW
Size
320sqm
Team
Gabriela Reitmaier, Dee Kelly, Dom Bennett
Photographer
Simon Wood
Prompted by the site conditions, this project was quickly named ‘Mt Coogee’, as it rises 26 metres from the street boundary to the back fence. Our brief on this challenging site was for a new five bedroom home to be delivered within a very short design and construction programme of 15 months. With this in mind, BMA suggested testing the potential for a house designed under private certification (CDC), avoiding the slow and uncertain DA process through local council.
Close collaboration with both the preferred builder and certifier during the early design stages gave our client confidence to maintain momentum on the project, resulting in planning and construction approvals being in place within four months.
The house consists of a masonry base supporting steel framed, lightweight clad elements above. Five floor levels follow the contours of the site, and are cleverly stepped so that the house is never more than two storeys high at any point. At the heart of the house, the blurred edges of the living, dining and kitchen spaces are wrapped around a private, sundrenched pool courtyard. The top storey consists of a guest and master suite, where a fully glazed facade allows the drama of the landscaped cliff face behind to be enjoyed in complete privacy.
The success of this project lies in our commitment to a positive and rigorous interrogation and application of the CDC controls to arrive at a unique and uncompromised design solution that could be delivered within the required timeframe.
Professionals used in
Mount Coogee House
More projects from
Bennett Murada Architects
About the
Professional
Our architecture is about simple things executed beautifully. While our buildings may look different to each other, they all embody the same principles of sensual experience, sustainability, honesty of materials, construction credibility and distinction.
We are positive, responsive, and easy to work with. We gauge success by consistently developing successful ongoing relationships with those involved in our projects. We understand that an important part of our role is leading, motivating and igniting a sense of ownership across the design team. Experience has taught us that best results are achieved when all stakeholder contexts are aligned, communication is open and clear, expert input is integrated accurately, and mutual respect is won.
There is little room for ego at BMA. Our design process is genuinely collaborative, with Project Directors engaging with our broadly skilled and experienced team of 15 staff to deliver richly diverse and unique projects every time.
We also actively promote working in a collaborative environment with our clients, authorities, consultants, builders, suppliers and other team members to arrive at are fined, efficient and beautiful result.
We value not only innovative and inspirational design at a project’s inception, but rigour, clarity and accuracy during our design development, documentation, tender and construction processes.
We are skilled in the art of balancing aspirations and pragmatics, and consider cost, programme and build ability integral to the design development process. We test our design decisions against these parameters regularly and actively promote the same within the design team.
We are successfully engaged in a broad range of project types and scales, including houses, urban housing, commercial and industrial projects, and resort hospitality.
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