Flinders House / Kennedy Nolan Architects

A spectacular site is both a gift and a problem for new architecture. The positives are self-evident, the negatives less so, but apparent in single-orientation, glassy boxes which proliferate on such sites. Aware of this, we were conscious of balancing the canonical attributes of aspect, prospect, and refuge without allowing the prospect part to distort the equilibrium of an ideal domestic setting. Our Client came to us with this site accommodating a radically altered Chancellor and Patrick house on the highly unstable cliff edge. Our attempts to preserve and restore the house were thwarted by the structural necessity to place it on 15-meter-deep piles, without which the house was in real danger of sliding onto the beach. Our approach then was to “remember” the house by largely reconstructing its form and arrangement, augmented by a perpendicular element that provided additional accommodation and solved the problems of vehicular and pedestrian access. A single-bedroom and bathroom guesthouse higher up the site completes our work here.