Stickybeak: A Family Home That Feels Forever Like a Beach Holiday
A beach-shack-like addition provides relaxed, flexible and fuss-free living for a family with three young boys
Hampton, Melbourne, is a laidback and leafy seaside neighbourhood with a charming holiday vibe. Capitalising on the coastal lifestyle, the clients – a family with three young boys – engaged ZGA Studio to design a relaxed beach-shack-like addition for their Spanish Mission house.
“They had an unusual and refreshing approach to the brief,” says Zoë Geyer, principal architect of ZGA Studio. “Instead of a list of rooms and spaces, they provided an insight into their family life, how they related to the existing house and site, and the kind of environment they would like to live in. With three young boys, their brief included a racetrack and native forest in the rear garden, and a home where the kids could drag the outside inside and always have sticky fingers. The house was to be relaxed like a beach house, but flexible for many different uses and stages of family life.”
“They had an unusual and refreshing approach to the brief,” says Zoë Geyer, principal architect of ZGA Studio. “Instead of a list of rooms and spaces, they provided an insight into their family life, how they related to the existing house and site, and the kind of environment they would like to live in. With three young boys, their brief included a racetrack and native forest in the rear garden, and a home where the kids could drag the outside inside and always have sticky fingers. The house was to be relaxed like a beach house, but flexible for many different uses and stages of family life.”
The addition is designed to take advantage of the north-facing rear garden, to allow for flexibility as the children grow, to bring natural light into the house and to establish a better indoor-outdoor connection. All internal spaces in the addition have a direct view to the outdoors, and central sheltered courtyards enhance the sense of a private landscape.
The existing house and addition are linked via a light and open passageway with a courtyard deck to one side. This brings natural light into the centre of the house and creates two zones. The existing house is a quiet zone for retreat. The addition and garden is where family life takes place.
DT-Floral 400 pendant: David Trubridge
DT-Floral 400 pendant: David Trubridge
The dining area is located in the centre of the new addition, with two children’s bedrooms to the east, and the kitchen and living room to the west. Large sliding doors open the space to both the north and south courtyards, allowing the boys to run through the house, inside and out.
With the central location, and a piano and bookshelf, the dining area is a functional and active part of the house, rather than a formal, isolated room.
Ceiling: hand-painted fibre-cement sheeting; Fluid Pendant Lamp by Claesson Koivisto Rune: Muuto
Ceiling: hand-painted fibre-cement sheeting; Fluid Pendant Lamp by Claesson Koivisto Rune: Muuto
A freestanding column in the dining area marks the extent of the original house and allows circulation paths to form around it. “The column obscures the view of the whole dining area from the original entry and hallway, providing a sense of privacy while allowing visitors to see directly through the house to the garden beyond,” says Geyer.
ZGA Studio selected simple and hardwearing materials to create a robust house without pretension. Paint colours that are darker than the original house provide a backdrop to the garden and natural world, and hand-painted grey ceiling panels create a sense the space has been carved out.
The floor steps down from the dining room to the open-plan kitchen and living area, where a wood fire and recycled-brick hearth create the focal point of the room on winter evenings.
Flooring: recycled Tasmanian oak
Flooring: recycled Tasmanian oak
“The kitchen was a focus of the design, as the family is passionate about food and coming together to prepare and share meals,” says Geyer. A large island bench with stools provides an area for the family to casually interact.
The porcelain benchtop is hardwearing and a dappled texture complements the limed timber cabinetry. A Victoria Freestanding Cooker from Smeg with cream enamelled panels reinforces the shack-like feel. The painted brick wall and white-tile splashback provide texture and contrast.
Venus porcelain benchtop: Maximum; limed blackbutt-veneer cabinetry; Victoria 90-centimetre Freestanding Cooker: Smeg
Venus porcelain benchtop: Maximum; limed blackbutt-veneer cabinetry; Victoria 90-centimetre Freestanding Cooker: Smeg
A narrow arched window offers a view to the front of the property and the neighbour’s beautiful gum tree, further establishing the sense of connection to the landscape and locality. “This is a light-filled house where you are never remote from the natural world beyond,” says Geyer.
The deck bordering the living and dining area is raised above the garden and courtyard paving. It forms a fringe to the house where the boys can sit or leap from, creating habitable space between the house and garden. “The owners have received comments from friends that the house is a perfect representation of who they are – which is our ideal outcome to any project,” says Geyer.
Scyon Axon Cladding: James Hardie
Tell us
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More
Did you miss last week’s Stickybeak? Take a look at this Stickybeak: An ’80s Home Gets a Beachy Upgrade
Scyon Axon Cladding: James Hardie
Tell us
What do you love about this home? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save your favourite images and like the story. Join the conversation.
More
Did you miss last week’s Stickybeak? Take a look at this Stickybeak: An ’80s Home Gets a Beachy Upgrade
Who lives here: A family with three young boys aged three, six and eight
Location: Hampton, Melbourne
Size: 208 square metres
Architect: ZGA Studio
“The owner affectionately referred to the design inspiration as a ‘beach-shack’ feel. The focus was on natural light, a strong connection to the outdoors, and spaces the family could all be together in,” says Geyer.