The Breezeway House – NSW

The Breezeway House was conceived as a joyous and engaging destination for holidays by the beach on the Central Coast of New South Wales, where shelter, shade and connection to the landscape are prioritised. Situated on a complicated subdivided block with trapezoidal boundaries, cross easements and significant cross-fall, the linear building form is stretched along the southern boundary allowing a series of gardens to buffer neighbouring buildings as well as moderate visibility of the house from the street.
Designed by David Boyle Architects, materials are natural and robust, where the hand and craft of the maker is obvious throughout the structure and detailing of the house. Consideration given to the experience of a beach house has informed a poetic response to placemaking throughout the site. The rhythm of the structural grid provides logic to the spatial arrangement, along with an intuitive twist in the upper level roof form echoes the Headlands at either end of MacMasters Beach.
Steel posts between suspended concrete slabs are concealed, braced by infill brickwork, and clad externally and internally within the breezeway with charred tongue and groove timber (reverse brick veneer). Within the house, a timber-lined breezeway runs the full length of the building. It provides a dynamic, flexible space for the movement of air, people, and light.
Openings are carefully positioned to screen existing and future neighbours, capture breezes and frame views of the headland. Preference was given to materials that are natural, sustainable, robust and playful, emphasising moments of craft, patterns and texture to be discovered over time.