The Sleepout
By Mitsuori Architects
A stand-alone ‘addition’ to an existing family beach house located on a secluded coastal site on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Our brief was to design a guest house so discreet and sympathetic to its context that you would barely notice it is there.
Seen but not Seen
We started the design process for this project by finding our ‘site’. So often an addition is placed in the most obvious location to the rear or abutting an existing building. The sleepout occupies a small slither of land between the tennis court and main driveway. Our design approach contemplated the building and semi-submerged garage as landscape elements nestled within the existing vegetation. A rectilinear timber pavilion clad singularly in weathered acetylated timber is an unassuming backdrop to the existing tennis court and main driveway.
The scale of the building is deceptive. Accommodation for two families is spread over 5 levels, yet the building appears as a simple single storey form. A central living space is positioned just above court level and three separate bedroom zones are located at lower and upper floors. A concealed roof deck provides private open space for guests to enjoy views over the property and hills beyond.
A custom engineered operable façade can be opened up to provide views to the court, or closed to achieve total privacy between the sleepout and main house allowing its inhabitants to be seen but not seen.
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The Sleepout
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About the
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Mitsuori Architects is a design led practice focused on the creation of enduring and innovative architecture that is uniquely reflective of its place, environment and the people that inhabit it.
Founded in 2008 by Matthew Murfett & Melissa Lim, our practice directors bring together large-scale project experience and technical expertise with the personalised service and attention to detail of a small boutique design practice. Both have worked with world renowned architectural practices on major cultural, commercial, residential and interior design projects in Australia, UK, Europe and the USA. Their departure from iconic city scale projects was inspired by a desire to explore the craft of architecture on a personal scale, and create buildings that are respectful of the past, reflective of the present and robust for the future.
At its core we believe the design process is a journey of discovery, translation and creation. Ours is a collaborative journey shared openly with our clients, design team, specialist fabricators and builders. We focus on producing well designed and executed architectural outcomes delivered by an experienced and cohesive team.
We believe environmentally and socially sustainable design are fundamental to the design of buildings and urban spaces. From the outset, these values influence site response, building orientation/configuration, selection of products, materials and technologies, and ultimately the technical resolution of structure and envelope.
At Mitsuori, we celebrate how architecture can change our experience of a place and influence how we shape our environment.
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