Tugun Residence

Fairweather Proberts’ Tugun Residence, recently commended by RAIA, was designed for a deadline. The client was involved in the construction industry and had resources on hand to build. To exploit those resources meant expediting the preconstruction process - ensuring the house was as-of-right as a dwelling, without the need for town planning approvals - as well as choosing simple, robust structural methods. With structural steel, concrete panels and glass, this is an honest construction softened by carefully wrought sculptural details.

The site is on the beachfront of Tugun, a quiet(ish) town at the southern extremity of the Gold Coast. With a development on the northern side of the site immanent, the house will lack allday access to this traditional aspect. Instead, it turns to the south and east. To the south, the upper-floor façade is facetted and variegated, its concrete panelling whipped into geometric peaks with small, fissure-like openings inbetween. Balancing and resolving these panels at their junctions required close collaboration between architect, engineer and specialist sub-contractor, its skilled finish combining seaside whimsy with formal clarity.

The upper façades act as first line of defence against the elements. Beneath, the ground level façades are mostly glassed. The upper northern façade, for instance, has only a few openings, protected for privacy; the lower northern façade has wide openings, extending the perceived space in the living areas out as far as the external fence. Beneath the sculpted panels on the southern façade is a system of sliding glass doors - low maintenance and simple forms in deference to the concrete above. The facetted edges of the concrete panels are in fact thickenings that provide a haunch under which the sliding doors can be housed. This gives weather protection without the need for additional flashings and fixings. Right around the house, the solid upper level provides solar protection for the lower living areas, its overhang to the east creating a casual outdoor area overlooking the sea.

The structure reflects the client’s desire to feel part of the beach on good days, and to batten down when the weather requires.

Inside, the effect of a solid structure floating above a lighter structure is to give the lower living areas a cool, under-the-house feel. A large void at the centre of the plan, the major device providing definition to the living spaces, draws filtered light from the southern aspect, including through the upper level fissures. Fresh northeast and south-easterly breezes are drawn through the void to the rear of the house. The void is defined by the flank of the main upstairs bedroom, which is facetted to the south and east where the structure allows for privacy and glimpsed views of the ocean.

The whole house is elevated slightly, for protection and privacy from the street and the neighbouring property. A semi-basement for vehicle and surf equipment was tucked underneath.

The Tugun Residence’s simple steel structural system supports the large internal voids. It allows for concrete and glass to create the external fabric of the building, and for the concrete to become the robust edge of the major living spaces, alternating with plain painted plasterboard. Where possible the structure is expressed as fabric and materials are simply expressed and differentiated.

The house was awarded a state commendation by the RAIA, alongside Fairweather Proberts’ Bay House in Moreton Bay. It was also awarded RAIA House of the Year in the Gold Coast Region. +

1 & 2 The solid upper-level provides solar protection for a casual outdoor dining area facing the sea. 3 The sliding glass doors slip neatly into a lip behind the concrete facade. 4 The open, central kitchen, with reconstituted stone benchtops and timber veneer joinery. 5 A void at the centre of the plan draws light from the southern aspect deep into the house, including the upper levels. 6 Lower level openings are expansive, but protected by the external fence for privacy. 7 Upstairs balcony, looking east.

PHOTOGRAPHY by Christopher Frederick Jones.