This Australian Beachcomber Is a Study in Color

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Project Details:

Location: Narrawallee, Australia

Architect: Architect George / @architect.george

Footprint: 1,020 square feet 

Builder: Envisage Construction & Design

Structural Engineer: Harrison & Morris

Landscape Design: TARN

Photographer: Cameron Deynzer

From the Architect: "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.

"Color was a journey throughout the process, the clients wanted to make sure their holiday home was a playful escape. This led to a material and color study that created a series of rooms soaked in colorful paints, tiles, and stones. Kassia St. Clair’s 'The Secret Lives of Color' was a starting point for our investigation into a playful, yet contextual, use of color. St. Clair unpacks the historical and cultural differences between various tones of the same color. This triggered our starting point, 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 color. We also created a catalogue of the original ‘beach shacks’ found in the area, all painted in a series of playful colors.

"The new board and batten cladding replaces the replica-timber weatherboard cladding in a more contemporary manner, still harking back to the beach shacks of the past. The cladding, windows, and doors are all painted the same green as a way of merging the new and the old elements. The new picket balustrade is painted a slightly different shade of green, like the tonal shifts you may see in the landscape.

"The project focuses on the use of a small set of materials, varying in color and format to give each space a unique interior quality but allows for them to be pieced together cohesively. The lower darker space is a cool retreat from the heat; deep greens give the interior a landscape quality. The green travertine and porcelain tiles make their way upstairs, transforming into a warmer pink travertine set against a soft pink and deep red paint color.

"The project is centered around the concept of minimal intervention. There were no large structural changes to the building; instead, an interiors-based conversion of spaces that weren’t working into vibrant and varied environments. 

"The project does not rely on gas fittings, fixtures or appliances – instead embracing electrical appliances in a shift towards renewable energy. Existing materials were kept and refinished to prolong their life span. The cypress pine floors were sanded back and refinished, the exposed timber roof structure was painted to form part of the ceiling. Solid and veneer joinery, handrails and stairs are all varying textures and tones of Australian timbers."