Rye Refuge

Year 2021 State Victoria Photographer Derek Swalwell Builder Smith Builders A rugged coastal site, the sound of roaring waves and that unmistakable smell of saline air. We imagined a home as an uncluttered set of volumes placed, with openings ‘carved’ out. Thanks to the client’s hands-on involvement with the landscape design, the home emerges from a scattering of native scrub. With a cascading split level layout, the form responds to the site topography and clad in bushfire resilient Blackbutt timber – a key finish continued internally. Reducing the building form into a series of linear – narrow and long modules enabled the final solution to appear more sympathetic in its setting, with landscape pockets between and a means to avoid an overbearing bulky building mass. The building is designed so as to function as a compact home for two with separate spaces able to be opened up for when family and guests come to visit. Art placement has been considered from the outset, prioritised over the typical overhead kitchen cupboards. Presenting the dilemma of a south facing sea view, solar passive design was iteratively tested to maximised northern solar access whilst also optimising the very reason the clients have picked this incredible site.