Builder: Iconic Homes

Engineer: Hutchinson Consultants

To design a small, simple but elegant family coastal home using clean modern lines.  To use vertical cedar to form the building envelope and to incorporate robust materials that will weather naturally with time. 

DESIGN FEATURES AND CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

This very steep site provided a challenge in terms of creating a suitable living platform. There was a desire to minimise piling due to difficult ground conditions and to ensure that the highly visible subfloor structure would be elegant. The solution was a series of steel portals and cable cross bracing to form a rigid frame which was then infilled with structural timber framing. The view is strongly framed between the projecting deck and it's canopy. The building sits lightly on the sloping site, suspended above the contour allowing sun and rain to reach beneath the building platform. In time vegetation will grow below and around the structure, re-stabilising the site and allowing good permeability. The living platform will be suspended over lush, green coastal vegetation with expansive views to the Gulf.