Budawang people of the Yuin nation
New South Wales
Regional
House in Narrawallee is a post-and-beam platform home perched on stilts, which sits lightly on the sloping land beneath. The brief was to imaginatively reinvent the beachcomber style home to accommodate extended family trips down the coast from Sydney, but without losing the home or surrounding area’s charm.
Kassia St Clair’s The Secret Lives of Colour was a starting point for our investigation into a playful, yet contextual, use of colour. St Clair unpacks the historical and cultural differences between various tones of the same colour. During several visits to the site and its surrounding context, we gathered fallen branches and leaves in unexpected and various hues which formed the inspiration for a series of rooms soaked in colour.
House in Narrawallee is a joyful rejuvenation of a beach shack that has created a home with character, colour, charm, and carefully reworked functional spaces.
The design draws inspiration from the surrounding context – both buildings and landscape – creating a detail-rich home, with enhanced native landscaping that celebrates the existing trees across the site.
Careful openings were made within the façade, and spaces were converted to make them usable for a modern family. The use of colour throughout the project is particularly notable, from the lower ground floor rooms painted and tiled in an immersion of rich, dark, deep green, through to the sunny yellows used within the kitchen.
The new exterior cladding pays a careful homage to timber weatherboard, yet is thoroughly contemporary, crisp, and delightful in execution.
The transformation of Bertie’s Beach House has allowed us to enjoy and maximise the space – by opening up the back portion of the home, it is now filled with sunlight from all angles – Its natural charm, cosy-ness and quaint style have been carefully maintained whilst making the house work much harder for our family. The way colour is prioritised and every small thoughtful element such as a curved tile or a marble cupboard pull make little mundane corners of the house, feel unique and special.
The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.
