The owners of this property occupied a serviceable but unexceptional 1950’s house for several years, allowing them to gauge the site and develop their ideas for a new home.
The facade is a blend of cedar, render and sandy-coloured, smooth-face, full-height blocks sitting against a strongly-textured background of half-height, split-face masonry units in the same colour, all manufactured by Austral Masonry. Massive double-glazed windows – said to be the largest installed in a Victorian house – dominate the upper level frontage and overlook a small walled garden.
We asked Brian Lowe why he recommended concrete masonry for this project.“It’s fashionable at the moment, people like it,” he says.The coloured smooth-face blocks “just sit there nicely and don’t dominate the facade.They are not meant to be a feature. The spilt face units are a feature, the cedar is a feature and the amount of glass is a feature.The rest you just want to lose.”
The location within metres of salt water requires special attention to finish and fittings.These Austral Masonry units are classified as Exposure Grade and therefore suitable for use in a saline environment.The wall ties are stainless steel, as are the gutters and numerous other fittings such as brackets, deck nails and external taps. Commercial grade aluminium trims were also specified.
The owners are keen entertainers and very pleased that the design allows them to balance this with the demands of their young family.