Return to Place – Pacific House by Alexander &CO.

Injecting new life and redefining a sense of self, Pacific House sees the reimagining of an existing 1990s-era home. Alexander &CO. connects the original form through a more considered response to its surrounding context, anchoring the spaces and enriching the everyday experience through enlivened texture and playful form.

Aligned along the cliffside within Sydney, Pacific House sat unconnected or reflective of its unique location, and through an alteration and addition effort, it is brought back to life. Originally built in the 1990s, the mostly masonry construction of the home remained in place, yet an entirely new planning overlay was needed to embed structure and flow throughout. Retaining core elements, both the exterior and interior were reworked to add to the story of its owners and to better connect to the narrative of its surrounds, further opening and emphasising a connected life. Through a combination of interventions and reworking the existing, Alexander &CO. strikes a balance between contemporary and existing, hard and soft, and structured and the unexpected.

An expressive use of stone combines with warm timber elements, all uniting through a carefully crafted hand, with every tactile and moment of engagement considered.

Built by Built by Dezign, Pacific House layers in nods to the owner and their European origins through materiality and the connective layout, while also incorporating a functionally supportive approach to the needs of family life. Having previously collaborated with Alexander &CO., an understanding of process and approach was already ingrained into the trusted relationship, ensuring the project could be led by creativity and exploration. Although oriented toward the ocean, the home felt inwardly focused. In correcting the overall orientation, an overarching approach sees the newly sculpted home have two sides – one that anchors the form to the site where the kitchen and outdoor areas sit protected from the elements and then one that opens generously to the view.

By identifying a duality, the home emerges as a series of balanced elements. In family life, there is a need to both come together and be independent and retreat, and the approach further cements this in both gest and a planning approach. An expressive use of stone combines with warm timber elements, all uniting through a carefully crafted hand, with every tactile and moment of engagement considered. While some elements are intended to age and patina over time, particular in the proximity to the ocean, others are robust and unwavering, as the backbone of the home. The layering of furniture, artwork, lighting and collected treasures then soften the otherwise hard shell, inserting moments of past nostalgia and readying for the next chapters.

In correcting the overall orientation, an overarching approach sees the newly sculpted home have two sides.

Inspired by place and people, Pacific House is a five-bedroom family home that has become a place of connection through considered design intervention. Alexander &CO. further gives depth to the everyday rituals as a result, allowing life to unfold.