Depot@Boomerang Beach

Approach

Combining a sensitive approach to nature with mindful spatial efficiency, this sustainable beach house is a unique response to place and requirements for multi-generational living and flexibility of use.

It creates a new bushfire, flood and storm-resilient home while minimising disruption to native vegetation.

The house is grounded by a “nature-first” ethos: positioned to minimise site disturbance – and elevated above a high-water table – this approach protects the nearby watershed and surrounding landscape.

Response

The house features a range of multi-functional, flexible spaces for living, dining, and indoor and outdoor entertaining. In addition to three bedrooms, a multi-purpose mezzanine has been designed to accommodate extra sleeping and/or indoor play areas; these are easily reconfigured for a day, a season or years.

Subtly and seamlessly, the entire eastern portion of the house can be sectioned off – serviced by its own private entries, deck, bedrooms, living spaces, bathroom and outdoor shower. These spaces can be used as a separate holiday let, or to welcome additional friends and family.

In an ode to the much-loved patriarch of the family and his love of sailing, we worked closely with artist Peter Campbell to incorporate motifs of maritime signalling into some of the paintwork. Coded onto the doors are the initials of the client’s mum and dad, imprinting their memory onto the building fabric.

Selecting materials with minimal maintenance and creating a house with minimal operational costs through effective passive design techniques ensures heating and cooling systems are avoided. 

Results

Climate resilience strategies:

Elevated construction to minimise risk during periods of peak rainfall and potential flash flooding.  

Redundant fire defence layers: lined and enclosed sub-floor, material selection and construction, dedicated water tanks, gravel landscaping and steel structure

The loft is centrally located and suspended using a series of metal rods fixed to recycled timber beams. The weight of the loft’s structure, combined with its location, provide a counterweight to high winds.

Environmental Performance:

• Solar PV system 5.6kW: renewable energy
• Recycled and salvaged materials: minimising resource use

The design maximises passive solar strategies and is naturally warm in winter and cool in summer, with northern orientation, large operable windows and doors, and a configuration that promotes cross-ventilation. While the client was not entirely convinced of this approach, she did report back after occupying the house during summer, noting “I was very worried about passive heating/cooling, worried it was going to be too hot without air conditioning, but in the middle of summer it was really pleasant in most parts of the house – the breeze and the temp were fine. A carpenter’s wife came to have a look and said it was 10 degrees cooler than their house down the road!! The orientation and the wind flow and the ceiling fans, placement of the louvers and windows, made it work”

This lived experience demonstrates the Depot@Boomerang Beach lives up to its reputation as a sustainable beach house, to be enjoyed by family and vistors alike.