Situated facing the beach and overlooking Broken Bay on the NSW Central Coast, this weekender is the second built in this secluded village by this family, and their second in concrete masonry. “The client liked the concrete block from his previous house so much that there wasn’t a question of not using it again,” says architect Alex Porebski. The saline environment was also a factor, as was masonry’s resistance to windborne abrasion which wreaks havoc with painted finishes. The alabaster-coloured smooth-face blocks are left exposed throughout, further reducing the owners’ maintenance requirements. The design is based around a central courtyard that can be screened when afternoon onshore winds arrive. It also acts as a suntrap, allowing the northerly sun to penetrate the house. “The courtyard was really one of the driving principles of the design,” says Porebski, who describes it as “a house that celebrates the act of living on the beach.”