Cottesloe Residence

Playful is a common adjective in the architecture vocabulary, a favourite of designers and reviewers alike.We like to give it an airing every time we see a jaunty angle or a bold splash of colour.We tend to wield the word in its academic sense.We use it to suggest a sense of youthful creativity, innovation, drama and daring. So it’s often forgotten that outside of the architecture headspace, ‘playful’ means treehouses and trainsets and tea-parties. The Cottesloe Residence is different: its playfulness is not confined to either lexicon. It is an adult’s treehouse, replete with jaunty angles and daring voids; a home designed with grown-up tea-parties in mind.

The sense of fun that imbues this project is attributable first and foremost to the clients, who, as a newly-married couple, had ambitions (and enviable ones at that) to live a relaxed lifestyle, entertain guests and host parties; to show off their art collection, the view and their own sense of playfulness. Oh, and they wanted their dream home to do likewise. The result is a house full of personality and conducive to entertaining: as open and welcoming as it is intimate and sophisticated.

The layout of the house itself is based around a series of cubes manipulating maximum space out of the inherently narrow site. In fact, while the cube formation is initially a response to the spacial constraints of the block, building area vertically and articulating living spaces, it is also the key to the home’s playful tree-house feel. With one cube addressing the street and projecting the bedroom outwards into the arms of an existing tree, one can’t help but feel the inner child stir. In fact, the treehouse element was so integral to maintaining the home’s overall persona that when the original tree succumbed to disease, it was replaced without a second’s hesitation.

It is a bold red door that greets visitors to the Cottesloe Residence, welcoming them across the threshold and into the spatial experience within. Memories of childhood come flooding back: ‘Open wide, come inside...’ And by-the-by, nothing was ever going to steal the limelight from this door: the dark floorboards inside were specifically designed to be completely redfree, so as to maintain the sudden sharp-focus eyeline towards the scarlet entryway at the end of the block.

Where the interior curved wall arcs back, it encloses and conceals all those necessities that one would rather have but not think about: the garage entry, laundry, and bathroom are kept out of sight and out of mind until needed. Less utilitarian and therefore less likely to be forced into concealment at social gatherings, the study is allowed a partially public presence, visible through narrow slots in the curved wall.

As the corridor widens, it also soars upwards. A lightweight open staircase is lightened even further by low slot windows, and the living spaces open up to a double-height void with two sides of double-height glazing. The feeling is one of openness and generosity, and yet also meets the clients desire for intimacy between the interior and the deck, garden and lap pool outside. The intimacy and groundedness is also achieved by way of the darker, richer design components. The pool is dark in hue. The aforementioned floorboards are not just dark, they are extra-dark. And the deep, earthy exposed aggregate was specifically designed and even hand-sorted for the job. The living and entertaining spaces are designed for the comfort of the residents and their guests: the soaring overhang of the roof over the deck and the deck itself shades all the main entertaining areas, while all the main internal living areas are directed northwards to maximise winter sun penetration. The upper-level treehouse bedroom is on the softly-lit cooler southern side of the house, ensuring comfortable occupation on long summer sleep-ins, and exposure to the gentle sea breeze. The same breeze is captured and manipulated by highlevel windows above the living room void, helping to circulate and draw out rising hot air. Outside, the feature wall to the west, while creating texture and groundedness, also plays a key role in sheltering the site from the incoming weather.

The Cottesloe Residence is a playhouse for grownups, but can also hold its own as a pin-up for creative, siteand client-responsive architecture. It’s got bold juxtapositions and soaring voids. But it’s also got a treehouse and a red door. Now that’s playful. +

1 An endless glazed apsect fulfils the clients’ desire for an intimate relationship between indoors and out. 2 It is from this angle that one appreciates the designs integral ‘treehouse’ inspiration. 3 Internal surfaces were chosen specifically to be “red free” so as not to detract from the impact of the door.

PHOTOGRAPHY by Olivia Reeves