A Modernist Coastal Home – Cumulus House by Chris Connell Design
Teetering out over its steeply sloping site, the single level rectilinear form of Cumulus House is held upright by thin structural supports below, anchored back to its site with a considered weightedness. Chris Connell Design combines a minimalist restraint together with a refined openness in creating an occasional home that embraces its views along the Great Ocean Road.
Enviably located in Wye River, Cumulus House offers its small family an idyllic weekend destination. As a complete counterbalance to the inner urban residential setting, this occasional home optimises its location and embraces the surrounding views out toward the ocean, as a true immersion in place. The formal response sits lightly as it engages with the steeply sloping site, jaunting outward from its most anchored point: the entry. In referencing its Californian modernist principles, it is a nod to Mies van der Rohe’s works, as an exemplar experiment of using less through a connected and singular streamlined volume. Chris Connell Design combines open and closed elements in conjuring a building that is uniquely private, yet outwardly welcoming of its surrounding views.
Built by Basebuild Constructions, Cumulus House is the epitome of measured living. While its location and purpose as an intermittent home requires less than a permanent residence, its expression as a home of simplicity and absence of ornateness is a welcomed addition to the residential landscape. Its modernist influence combined with contemporary sensibilities ensure it provides the many familiar elements to a home, while its touching of the earth lightly is an extension of its considerate qualities. With its enlarged surface area, a maximum collection of solar energy can be obtained that aids in the self-generation of energy while the home is in use.
The same formality and controlled rigour of its form is brought internally into each resulting gesture. When entered from grade level to the rear, an opening in a solid form permits permeation and opens up to its generous wide corridor, offering a peak of the ocean views beyond. The bedrooms and amenity pivot out from this central spine and maintain the linear element inside. Concealment is key, with amenity hidden from view behind custom walls and doors. All living and sleeping spacesare connected to the surrounding nature, both visually and through balconies that wrap the home. The focal four-way fireplace sits in the open living, dining and kitchen space and is a gathering hearth, while palette of robust and raw finishes encases the home and opens to its muted timber floor, painted plaster and stone interior.
Its modernist influence combined with contemporary sensibilities ensure it provides the many familiar elements to a home, while its touching of the earth lightly is an extension of its considerateness.
Cumulus House reinterprets the Australian beach house through a considered contemporary lens, both in reference to sustainability and as a responsible and active agent in its unique location. Chris Connell Design has created an identifiable and calming away home that beautifully embraces its site, while offering its owners and guests the opportunity to fully recharge.
