Garden First, House Second – Coastal Garden House by Neeson Murcutt

Conceived as a robust geological formation enveloped by its surrounding landscape, Coastal Garden House eschews the typical approach to the design of a coastal home. By focusing on the garden first and the architecture second, Neeson Murcutt creates the sense that the home emerges as an evolution of the landscape.

Located in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bronte, Coastal Garden House defies the traditional approach, particularly that of the coastal home, and instead proposes a solution that focuses on the garden first. As a natural evolution, the garden was imagined as the integral living element of the home and the building then emerges in response. The resulting home takes shape as a geological formation that is robust and resilient to the elemental conditions arising from the proximity to the ocean. Enveloping the structure in the landscape, Neeson Murcutt redefines the relationship between the built and the natural worlds we create and inhabit.

In its complete state, the house is intentionally created as an eroded rock form that resembles a cave, like a found ruin that is now being occupied. The pool is conceived as an extension of these core ideas and is designed as a natural waterhole rather than a typical swimming pool. Its location at the base level also mirrors the natural fall of water and its location in nature. The other built elements then follow the same natural contouring language of the site and, most importantly, the garden. Similarly, the outdoor elements like pavements, planters and sandstone boulders all extend inward, blurring the lines and threshold between inside and out.

Responding to the idea of Bronte as a place of natural and roughened edges, the home speaks to the eroded cliff formations and leafy gullies that characterise the area. The private and public have intentionally been brought together as both an expression of the building’s comprising parts and also as a nod to the popular nearby walking path. The shared nature of the public and natural elements has been mirrored in the conceptual framework of this home. Much as the house emerges from the landscape, the furniture elements emerge from the architecture. The sense of permanence and openness is a play on contrasts and balance, and the materially of warming timbers, earthy coloured tiles, plaster and concrete create a stability against the natural green elements.

Through close collaboration with 360 Degrees Landscapes, the creation of the garden as base offers a platform for the resulting home. With its naturally formed structure, Coastal Garden House provides framed views outward, and moments of clarity and privacy through its sense of enclosure. Neeson Murcutt brings a combined curiosity and rigor to the design approach, resulting in an immersive home that sits very naturally in its environment.