Suspended Retreat – Balmy Palmy by CplusC Architectural Workshop
Elevated amongst the surrounding tree canopy, Balmy Palmy sees the creation of a small and efficient home as a place of recharge. CplusC Architectural Workshop focuses on an open and outwardly engaged approach to ensure the home is an active reminder of place, with the views animating the experience of the space.
Nestled into the established natural landscape of Palm Beach, Balmy Palmy sits immersive and engaged with its surrounds. Through a light-touched approach, the structure comes together through a series of prefabricated elements assembled in place, both reducing the overall build time and the impact on the existing conditions. Intended to sit high and amongst the trees, the home is suspended in place, accessed by way of stairs that become their own sculptural expression. The home itself becomes a statement of simplicity – living with intent and with efficiency, while also allowing a shared co-existence with nature and amongst elements with their own storied past. Both as architect and builder, CplusC Architectural Workshop works closely with a non-traditional client approach, ensuring access to Palm Beach while also embedding a sense of retreat and disconnect.
Together with joinery by Sydney Kitchen Co and landscape design by Landforms, the intent was always to ensure a sensitive insertion. Although the site called for an absorption of the surrounding views and vistas and, in some cases, a more monumental home would be appropriate, a certain restraint steered the team away from this. As a place to live in harmony within the enviable positioning of the site, the suspended approach and a more unassuming and recessive focus was adopted. The home opens with ease between the inside and out, allowing a free flow of movement between the two. As a result, the internal spaces can be easily and naturally ventilated, and the outdoor rooms are as important as the interior.
As an occasional weekend destination for its owners, the home needed to navigate a restricted budget, timeframe and, due to its positioning, the associated challenges with access to the site. Despite the steep slope underneath, the suspended approach traverses the terrain with ease, minimising the impact with the soil and the existing ecosystem. By containing the overall size and scale of the form while focusing more on the engagement with the surrounds, the home becomes a reflection of its context. Translating transparency through glass, openness and the use of mesh rope, it is easy to forget oneself in the natural elements.
The home itself becomes a statement of simplicity – living with intent and with efficiency, while also allowing a shared co-existence with nature.
Allowing a unique occupation, Balmy Palmy literally heightens the idea of a home immersed within its natural context. Through a considered approach, CPlusC ensure all elements of the home adhere to the core ethos of doing enough and doing it well.
