Affectionately known as ‘Cake House’ by local surfers, the project celebrates the existing shape and prioritises resource efficiency, by recycling materials into a robust beach home for the next generation. Strategies included maximising the efficiency of the building form, floor area and operation.

The merging of passive house modelling and passive solar design allowed us to create a high performance home that can operate in a mixed mode scenario and focuses on a coastal Australian climate using local recycled materials. It operates as 100% electric and Net Zero energy use (-7,000kWh/yr back to the grid) with an onsite PV system.

The original beach shack is reminiscent of the vernacular and scale of this coastal town. We have sought to be respectful to the existing building by minimising the scale of the rear addition, ensuring it is not visible from the street and maintains the existing view corridors.

The design concept focused on ways to better connect the existing beach shack to its surroundings, by creating a series of indoor/outdoor spaces, that presented opportunities for views and physical connection to the coastal environment. Landscaping strategies were employed to adapt to potential coastal flooding and high tide events. While the increase in external temperatures was anticipated through the design of the building fabric and services.

We worked hard to optimise the layout to make flexible spaces, that could accomodate many people in such a way so as not to feel over-crowded. We elevated the living space to celebrate the sea views with an outdoor room merging down to landscape via generous amphitheatre seating. The bedrooms on the lower ground floor act as a bunker for insulated thermal mass with a robust structure to resist impacts of climate change.

Photography by Barton Taylor