Porebski Architects, Beach House 2. The client brief asked for a private sanctuary to escape their city home. Aside from capturing the beach and ocean views, the house needed to afford protection against the coastal environment including the daily onshore winds, sand and salt spray and at the same time be low-key and low maintenance; the sort of place you can walk bare-foot throughout the entire year. It achieves this via an open plan, with free-flowing spaces from inside to out, allowing summer and winter solar access within a protective barrier to the on-shore winds. Photo: Conor Quinn