Defining Coastal Luxury
Manly-based buck&simple creates bespoke, high-end homes on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, combining approachable luxury, refined craftsmanship and site-specific design to elevate everyday coastal living.
For more than a decade, an architecture and interiors firm in Manly has been quietly shaping Sydney’s residential landscape. Founded in 2013 by directors Peter James Ahern and Kurt Crisp, buck&simple has earned a reputation for bespoke, high-end homes that are both sophisticated and deeply liveable. Its projects speak to a philosophy of “understated luxury,” a style that privileges detail, craftsmanship and comfort over ostentation.
The studio’s coastal location inevitably informs its work. As Ahern explains, “Living and working on the Northern Beaches gives us an appreciation for the relationship between lifestyle, climate and architecture. It’s a place where the line between indoors and outdoors is naturally blurred, and that idea of relaxed yet refined living underpins much of our work.”
This sensitivity to environment and lifestyle forms the foundation of what the directors call a new kind of coastal architecture: homes that are practical yet elegant, crafted with integrity and designed to endure. buck&simple’s work avoids formula. Every home is bespoke, responsive to its site and brief, and always anchored by collaboration. “Each project is unique because each client is unique – we don’t apply a cookie-cutter style,” Ahern notes. Instead, the team works closely with clients, artisans and builders to deliver homes that feel personal and authentic, marked by a restrained material palette and a focus on fine craftsmanship.
The ethos of buck&simple is best illustrated through three recent homes, each shaped by context, client and craft. Little Birch, a new build in Little Bay, exemplifies that approach: a home that is practical, refined and carefully tailored to the site and needs of the clients. Designed for a young family seeking calm within the energy of city life, a palette of concrete, timber and travertine ensures durability, while hand-rendered finishes bring warmth. The home’s geometric exterior contrasts with its eclectic neighbours, while selective views and landscaping make the compact site feel expansive.
In Rose Bay, Casa Figuera was conceived around a heritage-listed Port Jackson fig. Designed for a family of five, the home blends global influences with Australian pragmatism. Raw concrete and rammed earth sit alongside timber and bronze, creating a layered, tactile interior. Integrating the home around the tree, while also addressing solar exposure and coastal conditions, required careful detailing and collaboration with specialist trades.
Closer to home in Warriewood, Casaballin reimagines a 1960s mid-century house for a family of six. The design retains the spirit of the original while introducing contemporary social spaces, as well as enhanced light and ventilation. The reuse of original timber panelling, along with the introduction of raw brass and terrazzo tiles, reflects buck&simple’s celebration of craftsmanship and material longevity.
Across each of these projects, the firm’s philosophy is evident: timeless design, artisan collaboration and what Ahern describes as “homes that feel refined, timeless and highly considered, without being ostentatious”. Thirteen years on, buck&simple is no longer just a quiet achiever. The studio is shaping a new coastal vernacular, one of liveable luxury, where architecture enriches everyday life through beauty, craft and detail.
Architecture by buck&simple. Interior design by Atelier Atwill and buck&simple. Build by Prostruct and Tn Made. Landscape design by Bates Landscape and Dangar Barin Smith.
