The brief for Great Ocean Road Residence was to create a home-away-from-home against a spectacular coastal backdrop for a growing family, and which would provide a place sanctuary for generations to come.

Sited on a unique position atop a prominent cliff, the residence has been designed to withstand a harsh marine environment through both practical ingenuity and a timeless aesthetic quality.

Crucial to the success of the architecture is its embrace of the site’s location on this wild part of Victoria’s coastline. This rare position informs the residence’s view lines, natural materials which tie it to the land, grand interior proportions, fire-rated construction and extensive ESD principles.

The overall design concept was to create a flexibility of use, allowing for shared intimate moments as well as large family gatherings. Combining wide corridors and high cantilevered ceilings, the interiors balance grand proportions with quiet beauty.

The solid construction provides silence against wild winds; while the continuity of stone from the outside ties the building to the cliff. Within each space, seamless and sustainable principles combine with natural luxury, creating a place of true belonging.

Embedded within an iconic coastal setting, created to last and crafted to host shared family moments, Great Ocean Road Residence heralds a new future of intelligent Australian coastal design by RMA.

Photography: Mark Roper