Beach House, Cape St Francis

Sustainable family residence: spacious interior with elegant design, minimalist architectural details, and panoramic sea views, creating a tranquil ambiance in a modern beachfront retreat

Description

The Beach house, designed for a family of six, is situated on a constrained triangular shaped, beach-front plot. Fyn-bos covered dunes protect the site from the shifting sands driven in off the beach. Raising the living areas with the pool above the bedrooms for sea views over the dunes, became the defining challenge.

To maintain its connection to the main living areas, the pool was elevated on the north side by building it above ground and wrapping the main water storage tanks and service rooms around it. Reflecting this at first floor level, the pool court is enclosed by the house and lounge veranda, protecting it from the prevailing onshore winds. From here one has views through the living room to the beach and Seal Point lighthouse beyond.

The house itself is split into three parts at angles to one another other with the staircases locating at the junctions. The roofs are flat at these points with mono-pitches over the three main volumes lifting to the north, allowing the rooms to focus on bay views to the South while keeping warm and well lit. The interrupted roofscape and wood cladding control the scale of the house from the approach as do the various decks and pergolas from the beach. Ground floor decking covers a second set of rainwater storage tank and connects the games room to the garden dunes and the surf wet room to the surf beyond.

The kitchen, open in part to the living room and bedroom passage, anchors the layout at the main corner and communicates with all sides of the house. Next to this the main stair draws one up through a sun screened double volume entrance hall onto the main landing – where one is greeted by the living room, open on both sides to the pool court and the beach deck with its sweeping views from the Seal Point light house to Sharks point.

The hardwood decking, pergolas, balustrades and cladding, untreated and exposed, are all left to fade. Crisp white plastered forms are held between wood clad facades. The garages and landscaped terraces around the elevated pool are finished in a bagged red brick forming a rusticated plinth to address the street facade.

Water wise and energy efficient the house harvests rainwater, recycles grey water and runs on solar hot water. An inverter with back up power manages the electrical loading and is solar ready for the future addition of photovoltaic panels. Wood burning fireplaces on both levels warm the well insulated house from their central positions.

Contractors

Architects – STARC
Contractor – ESP, Eric Steadman Projects

Sustainable family residence: spacious interior with elegant design, minimalist architectural details, and panoramic sea views, creating a tranquil ambiance in a modern beachfront retreat
Sustainable family residence: spacious exterior with elegant design, minimalist architectural details, and panoramic sea views, creating a tranquil ambiance in a modern beachfront retreat
Sustainable family residence: spacious interior with elegant design, minimalist architectural details, and panoramic sea views, creating a tranquil ambiance in a modern beachfront retreat

Description

Contractors

Architects – STARC
Contractor – ESP, Eric Steadman Projects

The Beach house, designed for a family of six, is situated on a constrained triangular shaped, beach-front plot. Fyn-bos covered dunes protect the site from the shifting sands driven in off the beach. Raising the living areas with the pool above the bedrooms for sea views over the dunes, became the defining challenge.

To maintain its connection to the main living areas, the pool was elevated on the north side by building it above ground and wrapping the main water storage tanks and service rooms around it. Reflecting this at first floor level, the pool court is enclosed by the house and lounge veranda, protecting it from the prevailing onshore winds. From here one has views through the living room to the beach and Seal Point lighthouse beyond.

Sustainable family residence: spacious interior with elegant design, minimalist architectural details, and panoramic sea views, creating a tranquil ambiance in a modern beachfront retreat

The house itself is split into three parts at angles to one another other with the staircases locating at the junctions. The roofs are flat at these points with mono-pitches over the three main volumes lifting to the north, allowing the rooms to focus on bay views to the South while keeping warm and well lit. The interrupted roofscape and wood cladding control the scale of the house from the approach as do the various decks and pergolas from the beach. Ground floor decking covers a second set of rainwater storage tank and connects the games room to the garden dunes and the surf wet room to the surf beyond.

Sustainable family residence: spacious exterior with elegant design, minimalist architectural details, and panoramic sea views, creating a tranquil ambiance in a modern beachfront retreat

The kitchen, open in part to the living room and bedroom passage, anchors the layout at the main corner and communicates with all sides of the house. Next to this the main stair draws one up through a sun screened double volume entrance hall onto the main landing – where one is greeted by the living room, open on both sides to the pool court and the beach deck with its sweeping views from the Seal Point light house to Sharks point.

The hardwood decking, pergolas, balustrades and cladding, untreated and exposed, are all left to fade. Crisp white plastered forms are held between wood clad facades. The garages and landscaped terraces around the elevated pool are finished in a bagged red brick forming a rusticated plinth to address the street facade.

Water wise and energy efficient the house harvests rainwater, recycles grey water and runs on solar hot water. An inverter with back up power manages the electrical loading and is solar ready for the future addition of photovoltaic panels. Wood burning fireplaces on both levels warm the well insulated house from their central positions.

Sustainable family residence: spacious interior with elegant design, minimalist architectural details, and panoramic sea views, creating a tranquil ambiance in a modern beachfront retreat