Riverview by CM Studio

Stretching across a double-width site, this calm and contemporary dwelling is crafted to take advantage of Pittwater views, tantalising glimpses of water peeking through a lush canopy of eucalypts.

Located in a quiet corner of the Northern Beaches is one of Sydney’s most closely guarded treasures, a home with views over Pittwater that slow one’s pulse. Megan Burns, design director of CM Studio, recalls visiting Riverview, which is built on the bush-dense western side of the peninsula. “Even when the home was just a shell, we’d be there for site meetings and we’d all go quiet, chilling and watching a boat go past. It was so calm and relaxing.” In its access to view, the site was doubly fortunate: “It’s basically a double-width site in an area with a lot of stacked houses – really on top of each other and going down the hill,” says Burns. “It was about utilising the width of the site, capturing all the beautiful iconic views.”

Located in a quiet corner of the Northern Beaches is one of Sydney’s most closely guarded treasures, a home with views over Pittwater that slow one’s pulse.

Capturing that panorama through the canopy required careful planning. “There were little vistas that you could see between the trees, and some trees were positioned to open up a view from a certain angle,” explains Burns, adding that the team spent a lot of time in the original home unlocking the site’s secrets and making sure the most enchanting aspects were caught from the desired spaces, including the main bedroom, which enjoys the best view in the house.

This outlook, while stunning, also brought a new challenge to CM Studio’s regular catalogue of sustainable inclusions. Riverview features solar roof panels and rainwater collection tanks, but the biggest challenge was tackling the intense heat that comes with a predominantly western outlook. “Ventilation was key, so there are lots of spots where we can open up to capture breezes – letting heat vent out of that double height stack is really important,” says Burns. The team also needed to build in solar protection that wouldn’t permanently compromise the panorama, which was achieved through motorised sun shading that can be activated for brief periods when the sun is most fierce and tucked away when not needed.

CM Studio brought organic softness to the lines with its choice of materials.

Visually, the homeowners had come to CM Studio with a firm idea of what they wanted, including key design features such as the soaring double-height spaces and raked eaves and, through it all, strong and angular lines. In interpreting this vision, CM Studio brought organic softness to the lines with its choice of materials.

“We have the black-and-white eaves, but then where the strongest lines were, we soften them by introducing the stone, which is architecturally on the warmer side.” Reinforcing the connection between indoors and out, Bokara stacked stone from Eco Outdoor was chosen for its combination of warm neutral tones and irregular shapes. “We wanted some movement in the texture of it and it’s both neutral and quite playful.”

The surrounding landscape provided ample inspiration, with the material palette chosen to foster the home’s natural connection.

The surrounding landscape provided ample inspiration, with the material palette chosen to foster the home’s natural connection. Timber battens clad the exterior and darker metals – often bronze-toned brass – echo the shadowy tree limbs. The jewel of the outdoor space is the pool, which has been tiled in dark green to echo the leafy canopy and, on a still day, to reflect the trees above. Tumbled limestone pavers – Garonne from Eco Outdoor – flow from the pool area inside to the kitchen-living-dining zone. “We wanted the internal and the external spaces to all feel like one zone working together,” says Burns.

The interior material palette is one of quiet beauty and harmony with the natural charms of the site, with materials chosen for their softness and tactility. “We wanted all the tones of the materials to link together, but not subscribe to just one grey or brown, but just to be more earthy toned in general,” says Burns. The best example of this is the Dogal grey marble from Surface Gallery, the modest main character of multiple spaces, from the kitchen to the fireplace shelf, the bathrooms and even the main bedroom, where it is used as a luxurious frame for custom bed joinery. “Dogal is a grey marble with quite strong veining through it, but then it also has these beautiful rust moments.” These smudges of rust are repeated through materials from the grey-and-brown-speckled terrazzo tiles – which are paired in the bathroom with the suede-like tactility of microcement walls – to plush grey-brown loop pile carpet and bronze Astra Walker tapware.

The interior material palette is one of quiet beauty and harmony with the natural charms of the site, with materials chosen for their softness and tactility.

The palette of materials is also used to help demarcate public and private spaces. With their children entering their teenage years, the homeowners needed multiple spaces where they or their children could retreat and find quiet and privacy, while also having areas for the family to gather and connect. “The public spaces are all the high-volume spaces, with tall ceilings, beautiful high windows and skylights with views through to the tree canopy maximising the view.”

When one moves beyond the public spaces of Riverview towards the bedrooms, the atmosphere is very different. “That whole section is much more human in scale,” says Burns. Lower ceilings replace the voluminous double-height ones, and oak flooring and timber-lined walls and joinery create a feeling of closeness and comfort. “There’s a much more cocooned feeling. It feels calmer, quieter.”

Architecture and interior design by CM Studio. Landscape design by The Garden Social. Build by Bau Group. Joinery by Saltwater Joinery. Stone flooring and walling by Eco Outdoor. Furniture and feature lighting by Studio Parker. Artwork by Marisa Purcell.