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This latest in a series of elegant,

minimal, object houses by Sean

Godsell is a further speculation

on the potential of an Australian

vernacular that relates more

explicitly to Asian regionalism

than European historicism. Spare

of form and clad in gridded skin

of industrial grating, it has clear

echoes of previous Godsell

projects, such as the Kew House,

the Carter Tucker House (AR Dec

2000) and the Peninsula House

(AR Dec 2002), in which simple

Miesian volumes are wrapped in

a light and heat diffusing layer ofslatted timber or metal.

Here, the brief is for a

weekend house on a beachfront

site, which might suggest a

sybaritic vision of lotus-eating

excess and a commensurately

indulgent architectural response.

However, the clients, a couple

with children, wanted a simpler,

heartier experience that re-

connected them with nature and

the elements beyond the climate

controlled confines of office and

home life in the city.

Set on St Andrew’s Beach on

Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula,

the site is immediately privileged,

being one of the few locations

in Australia where construction

is permitted directly on the

foreshore. The elevated site

commands ocean views and

though hot in summer, the winter

climate is often harsh, with gale

force winds. The bar-like volume

of the building is hoisted up on

steel pilotis, adding to the sense

of elevation and transforming the

house into a vantage point from

which to survey its surroundings.

The undercroft is deployed as a

car port and storage area. Lifted

clear of the dense vegetation,

the elongated box appears to

hover lightly above the ground,

its mass further softened by a

skin of rusted metal mesh that

enfolds the two long sides like a

rough veil. More prosaically, the

cladding is actually floor grating

made from oxidised steel, a tough,

cheap industrial product creatively

appropriated for the project. In

places the gridded metal sheets

hinge open to form brises soleil.

Organisation is admirably

economical. Rooms are simply

butted together in a long line and

linked by a looping promenade

deck. A communal living, dining

and kitchen space is placed at

the prow of the block, with

three bedrooms and a study

to the rear. Depending on the

time of year, sliding glass doors

connect individual rooms with the

SHORE PATROLThis beach house explores traditional

vernacular means of tempering climate.

1The long bar-like voluof the house bar appeto float in the landsca2Rough,oxidised metamesh cladding envelothe long flanks in a ligand heat diffottusing 3

The undercroft.

HOUSE, ST ANDREW’S BEACH,

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

ARCHITECT

SEAN GODSELL

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HOUSE, ST ANDREW’S BEACH,

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

ARCHITECT

SEAN GODSELL

site plan

promenade deck or seal them off

from it, but to move around the

house always involves traversing

this interstitial space, which subtly

blurs the boundary between

interior and exterior realms.

The house updates and

reinterprets traditional Australian

responses to climate moderation.

Elements of the outback

homestead – the sunroom,

the breezeway and the sleep-

out – are re-organised into an

abstract verandah which shelters

and protects the occupants

while enhancing the fluidity of

the loosely defined spaces. The

external environment is filtered

and modulated through a series of

layers so while harsh extremes are

tempered, occupants are always

aware of the elemental dynamics

of light, climate and nature. C.S.

Architect

Sean Godsell Architects,Melbourne

Photographs

All photographs by Earl Carter apart from

nos 3 & 7 which are by Hayley Franklin

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ground floor plan (scale approx1:750)

first floor 

roof plan

north elevation

  N

3 2 2 1

377

3

997

8

6453

4Rooms apromena5Main livi6Sliding gthe innemoving aalways inthis inte7Room w 

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6

1 car port2 store

3 deck 4 kitchen5 living6 study 7 bedroom8 bathroom/laundry 9 bathroom