When an empty-nester couple in Sydney decided to build their own home, they found a site in Church Point, a suburb in Sydney’s northern beaches overlooking a beautiful body of water to a national park. Set against a steep rock face, the west-facing site proved challenging—and the initial scheme felt disconnected from the site, with a singular focus on views to the water. The couple also felt it wasn’t sympathetic to their needs as they grew older. So, they decided to change tack and approached local firm CHROFI to develop a new scheme.

“The site has direct deepwater frontage to McCarrs Creek, a mystical body of water connected to Pittwater,” says lead architect Fraser Mudge. “The more time you spend there, the more you appreciate the subtleties of how it changes day to day. It is really lovely.”

The clients—an active couple in their early sixties—wanted a home that first and foremost spoke to the site, but also subtly referenced the architecture of South Africa and New Zealand, where they had previously lived. The home also needed to incorporate a guest wing that could be used as a formal bed-and-breakfast, as well as a space for extended family and friends to stay.

“It was a challenge in terms of how we could create flexibility, but also a home for them that they would use most of the time,” says Mudge. “We were very conscious of not having a multistory house that sat against the cliffside that they would have to traverse all the time, and that would feel disconnected when it was just the two of them.”

The solution was to create a self-contained one-bedroom home for the couple on the ground floor, with the flexibility to connect to the upper floors when needed through either stairs or a small lift. The lift also leads to a storeroom on an upper floor that is used as a gym. When the couple don’t have guests or family staying, the upper floor of the home is effectively shut down and they live their day-to-day life on a single floor.

A large, sunken courtyard has been cut into the escarpment at the rear of the dwelling. “This not only creates a calm and meditative space, but is also a juxtaposition to the site’s expansive—and sometimes extreme—primary aspect over the water. It also allows the clients to retreat further back into the home to find a cooler space on those hotter days.”

“It’s really a four-level home, and as you go up in levels, the view and aspect changes quite a lot,” says Mudge. “The ground floor has nice, controlled views. Then, the more you go up in the home, the more expansive the views get.”

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The clients loved the idea of using board-formed concrete for the home, however the budget didn’t allow for the entire home to be constructed this way. “We used board-formed concrete on the ground floor, where they would be living most of the time, and we used Barestone fiber cement cladding and concrete blocks in the other parts of the home,” says Mudge. “This mix of materials offers an economic construction, but when you’re on the ground floor, it feels like a very high-end house.”

The timber used throughout is spotted gum, which coincidentally references several very large spotted gum trees on the site. “The timber sits very nicely against the concrete,” says Mudge. “The refined joinery against the rough off-form concrete is a really great juxtaposition—and a key element of the interior.”

It was essential to preserve these mature spotted gum trees during construction, and the steel mesh driveway was key to achieving this. “It’s one of my favorite parts of this home,” says Mudge. “The lightweight structure allowed us to build around one of the gum trees, and we’ve grown a lush garden underneath that will, in time, grow up through the mesh.”

“The clients were looking for an interesting, different approach to their home,” says Mudge. “That’s what they really challenged us on, and I think we’ve achieved that.”

Concrete Arches Shroud a Minimalist Forever Home in a Melbourne Suburb

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: CHROFI / @chrofi_architects

Builder: Graybuilt

Structural Engineer: TTW

Civil Engineer: ITM Design

Landscape Design: Jamie King

Lighting Design: Erco

Interiors: Triibe

Joinery: Fine Earth Joinery

Photography: Katherine Lu

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A Sunken Courtyard Anchors This Concrete Home to Its Steep Waterfront Site