Ocean House by Woodward Architects

In the spirit of modernity, this property presents an evolution of a classic typology – a humble watchtower inspiring quiet reprieve and leisurely play amid the streets of coastal suburbia.

On the shores of North Avoca, along New South Wales’ Central Coast, an exquisitely proportioned two-storey dwelling presents as a compact new insertion within an emerging streetscape. Honest in form and materiality, Ocean House by Woodward Architects is a celebration of the suburb’s modernist seaside vernacular – compact, robust and utilitarian. The new construction forms an ancillary bookend to an established family property as a venue for connectedness and communal play, forming a watchtower of sorts in which to survey the boundless energy of four growing boys.

Honest in form and materiality, Ocean House by Woodward Architects is a celebration of the suburb’s modernist seaside vernacular – compact, robust and utilitarian.

Presenting as a pavilion of open edges, the project responds to the changing needs of a family. “The architecture is conceived as a symbolic annex to the existing dwelling, designed for guests, extended family and as a base for the teenage boys to stay as they grow older,” says project architect Richard Coskie. Operating as a mediator between public and private, the house is elegantly composed against the street edge, reserving ample space for a generous garden, a priority of the client’s brief. It’s a place for active relaxation, comprising a modest square footprint of dual exposures, around a basketball court, pool and indoor recreation.

Ocean House is resolute in its elevational presence, respectful of the suburban fabric it’s woven into. Referencing the 1960s modernist works of Nino Sydney, the architecture prioritises programmatic arrangement to inform its outward appearance. “With a simple brief, we wanted to play on the Beachcomber Words André Bankier-Perry Photography Luke Shadbolt Styling Alexandra Gordon typology – an elevated living area with framed apertures, above an open base,” says Coskie. Recalling the classic Australian shack, primary occupation forms a protective undercroft atop the raw utility of beachside living. In keeping with Sydney’s manifesto, the architecture presents as a mathematical assemblage, expressly modular and neatly divisible. The rhythmic distribution of concrete blade walls, exposed outriggers and slender railings sets a logical framework, characterised by its weighty concrete base and delicate upper projection.

Operating as a mediator between public and private, the house is elegantly composed against the street edge, reserving ample space for a generous garden, a priority of the client’s brief.

Off-form concrete blade walls define the ground-floor plane, stretching out beyond the enclosure to capture the floor plate above. Held between these robust elements are a garage and gym, adjoined by a compact entry, mudroom and stair. There is a directional simplicity that runs within, cultivating gentle through-breezes from street to garden. Ascending to the upper domain, a coherent concrete datum signals ones’ arrival to the communal heart, curated around the rituals of cooking, eating and lounging, and bordered by a reading nook for momentary escapism. To the eastern boundary, compact sleeping quarters evoke a place for introspection. Covered outdoor balconies flank the front and rear, encased by linear planter boxes of a shared perimeter. Resilient natives adorn this floating edge, inviting greenery to veil the concrete canvas. Resting atop this clear expanse, a timber-framed skeleton reveals a series of tapered rafters, pulled back to express the profiled line of the corrugated roof.

Ocean House comprises a minimal palette of pigmented concrete, spotted gum and painted steel, suggestive of decades past. Each material serves a specific role in the shaping of texture and organisational hierarchy. A porous concrete plinth imparts horizontality, bridging the streetscape from boundary to boundary. Underneath this planar shelter, timber-planked insertions define the formal point of arrival, tracing fine striations across a solid pivot door and louvered sidelight. Above the concrete base, verticality comes to the fore, imbuing a shared tectonic of a finer grain – a familiar sibling to the language below. Slender timber battens form permeable privacy screens, abutting plywood soffits and aluminium-framed sliders. Traversing the threshold, a central concrete island serves as a prominent anchor to the podium underfoot, enveloped by spotted gum and alabaster plaster, and relieved by delicate chalky grey Japanese mosaics and light-drenched sheers.

Ocean House comprises a minimal palette of pigmented concrete, spotted gum and painted steel, suggestive of decades past.

Through an exercise in reduction, the architectural footprint dissolves into the outdoor realm. “The project was informed by the idea of an all-inclusive backyard garden – a connector between the primary residence and the ancillary structure – consciously arranged for moments of leisure,” says Coskie. Shielded by the new pavilion, a series of outdoor rooms merge into the existing, defined only by established trees and a central lawn at the former boundary. A vibrant-hued basketball surface takes centrestage, encouraging spectator involvement from rustic courtside bleachers. A delineating fence of thin steel pickets skirts the peripheries of a narrow pool enclosure, flanked by boarded platforms for sun-drenched bathing and shaded by the mudroom eave. Organic planted thresholds permeate the frontage, cloaked in seasoned tussocks and sprawling ground cover. Split-face stone pavers carve a path from verge to doorstep, momentarily obscured before re-emerging, akin to an unearthed coastal artefact.

Sheltered beneath deep covered loggias amid unrelenting summers or running about the garden in bursts of energy, the site is as much about human interaction as it is about clarity of material and form. These attributes speak to family and friends as occupiers and custodians, whose comings and goings instil an ever-changing sense of architectural reinvention – the structure a sculptural gesture enriched by those who reside here.

Sheltered beneath deep covered loggias amid unrelenting summers or running about the garden in bursts of energy, the site is as much about human interaction as it is about clarity of material and form.

In the spirit of Australian modernity, a nostalgic familiarity imbues this abode. Reminiscent of the modernist shack, Woodward Architects’ Ocean House presents an evolution of the Beachcomber typology – assembled floating planes, neatly arranged and tethered to the landscape that runs beneath. The dwelling is a neighbourly lookout of expressed concrete and spotted gum, inspiring quiet reprieve and leisurely play in the streets of coastal suburbia.

Architecture and interior design by Woodward Architects. Build by Baily Constructions. Landscape design by Pangkarra Gardens. Landscape contracting by Box Building & Landscaping. Lighting consulting by Copper Electrical.