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Architects: Bourne Blue Architecture
- Area: 145 m²
- Year: 2017
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Photographs:Shane Blue
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Manufacturers: James Hardie Australia, Bluescope, Bradford, Bulmer & Lemaire, Colorbond, GJames, James Hardie, Nectre, Parchem
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Lead Architects: Shane Blue, Claire Lavis
Text description provided by the architects. Blueys Beach is a popular holiday destination, on the Mid North Coast of NSW, Australia. The original houses in this coastal village are simple fibro or weatherboard structures. They are weather-beaten and basic, yet they generally offer a relaxing beach holiday experience. Unfortunately, when properties change hands, original buildings are often replaced by large suburban houses, which have little recognition of place and relate poorly to the immediate context
This house was designed on an empty but narrow (12m x 42m) block. The site slopes gently down to the rear, and there are established houses on neighboring blocks. The client’s brief was for a simple holiday house that created its own amenity on the site. It must not be ostentatious and must fit in well with the context. There should be an easy transition from the beach to the house and surfaces are to be hardy so that durability is not a concern.
The built form is articulated into a series of linked massing elements, under a consistent roof form which falls towards the site boundaries (creating a low roof edge facing the street and adjacent property). The building mass is broken up through careful window placement (including some recessed windows to the south-west and south-east elevation), deep recesses in the street elevation to form the entry door and carport, a roof void corresponding to the garden in the centre of the front pavilion, and a large roofed deck separating the main pavilion and the rear bedroom pavilion.
The living spaces open easily to the deck in the sun, or the shaded deck and the ‘carport’ is ostensibly a roofed outdoor area for hammocks or games. Much of the living space on the site is actually outside the buildings, in the courtyard or on decks. This works well with the indoor/outdoor nature of visiting here. Materials throughout relating to the context of the village, are economical and corrosion resistant. Timber is used extensively, floors are all polished concrete internally.
Eaves and wall linings are fiber cement. Sustainable features –Correctly orientated thermal mass. Heavy insulation to walls and ceilings, Rainwater harvesting for WC, laundry, garden usage, minimal footprint to the building, using fewer materials and resources, sustainable timber use such as reconstituted timber concealed structure, Heat Pump hot water technology.
