Elevated Coastal Living – Bronte House by Tribe Studio Architects
Within Sydney’s gentrified beachside suburb of Bronte, cluttered by renovations and rebuilds, Tribe Studio Architects suggests a restoratively elemental approach to coastal living. Bronte House is built on a steep former quarry site for a multigenerational family of five; the home’s raw, monolithic presence gives the illusion of having been carved from a single block of sandstone by sun, wind and time. It is in this robustness and gentle feeling of erosion, which takes its cues from the dramatic surrounding cliffs, that a sense of design resolution arises – singular within the otherwise disparate and heterogenous suburb. Bronte House is urban coastal living recalibrated and re-crafted to foster elevated connections within and around the home.
Bronte House sweeps across the southern bank of the Bronte gully on a shared elevated walkway. From its southern to northern boundaries, the house falls six storeys in height and is closely contained between neighbours on either side. It is in this challenging topographical context that the design necessitates a well-crafted negotiation of rising space, but whilst the home may seem effortlessly choreographed, its coherence is the result of “a difficult, nuanced and iterative dance back and forward to manage slope, height, brief and circulation, all the while protecting the views and sun for our clients and their neighbours,” shares Tribe Studio Architects Principal Hannah Tribe. The result is a vertical strategy without excess yet with an essential delight founded on treating the steep topography as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. The team approach the terrain “like a series of carved out sandstone caves,” Hannah describes, unifying interior and exterior gestures to create a laterally integrated composition affording beautiful oblique beach and ocean views to the north-east and suburban views directly across the valley, as well as to the oasis of the private southern garden.
To complement the vertical character of the home, the architects delineate a highly resolved organisational strategy, which carefully separates areas of served and servant space, as well as spaces of interaction and retraction for Bronte House’s occupants. This is all achieved within a concentrated envelope that emphasises spatial efficiency to curate a highly personalised plan for the family, with clear public-private sectors as well as multiple work-from-home spaces. “The house is quite compact, but it has lots of different areas for socialising together or being alone,” Hannah explains. This includes the north-facing terrace over the street, which is sunned all day long and has a dazzling view of the ocean whilst actively engaging with the life of the beach and the street. Contrastingly, spaces such as the pool and garden face south to be private from neighbours and the public domain yet still feel open due to the house’s form shaving back to allow in sunlight.
The materiality of Bronte House is delightfully fundamental and tactile, with a muted colour palette that is a light, cool contrast to the warmth and brightness of the outside sun. The home features sandy coloured brickwork and concrete structural slabs as well as sealed finishes and joinery made from Australian hardwood. There is no plasterboard in the project and limited tiling, with steel balustrading details consistent inside and out. The home has an earthy luminosity and enduring, ancient quality for its masonry construction that extends throughout the entire project. “The interior and exterior are inextricably linked. The skin is the cladding, lining and structure,” Hannah reiterates. “The principle of the house is robust and elemental – nothing is added, and nothing can be taken away.”
It is in this careful junction between eroded form and grounded materials that Bronte House becomes a thoughtful study in light. Hannah states that “with a deep north-south orientation like this, it is important to manipulate and handle the light well. The risk is very bright and very dark spaces, and a high level of glare.” In response, the team introduced light through reflection and refraction, screening and dappling with openings that can be shut down in summer and are themselves deep reveals for shade and privacy. “The careful treatment of light gives the house its otherworldly character.”
The design for Bronte House is additionally innovative for its integration of passive design principles to ensure long-term efficiency and comfort through thermal control. Hannah remarks, “we have been experimenting for 20 years with the location of openings, shade operability and the organisation of space to assist in passive thermal design, as well as the use of insulated thermal mass.” The home integrates specific design moves such as a deep bank of brick to the west and strategic window locations for flexible air flow, as well as operable skylights that limit the need for energy consumption.
For Hannah, Bronte House is an important expression of the wider residential work of Tribe Studio Architects. Not only do the team design to embody the nuanced rituals and aspirations of their clients but also to be richly specific to site and place, looking to climatic considerations and contextual architectural character. “Our projects don’t look the same, but they are underpinned by the same sense of empathy, sensitivity, curiosity, a deep seriousness and lots of play,” says Hannah.
Not only do the team design to embody the nuanced rituals and aspirations of their clients but also to be richly specific to site and place, looking to climatic considerations and contextual architectural character.
Bronte House simultaneously exudes a deeply grounded yet innovative approach to architecture and design through its intimately conceived organisational strategy and elegantly sturdy formal expression. However, at its core, the home is a projection of the family that resides within. “Architects often compare their work with poetry, which can seem a little grandiose, but I feel like we have a density of meaning and precision of language here that creates a family narrative deliciously particular to our clients,” says Hannah. Bronte House is a careful study in urban coastal living. No excess, no frills – simply finding joy and playfulness in the essentials to awaken a spirit of design deeply connected to both client and place.
