This latest in a series of elegant,

minimal, object houses by Sean

Godsell is a further speculation
on the potential of an Australian
vernacular that relates more
explicitly to Asian regionalism
than European historicism. Spare
of form and clad in gridded skin
of industrial grating, it has clear
echoes of previous Godsell
projects, such as the Kew House,
the Carter Tucker House (AR Dec
2000) and the Peninsula House
(AR Dec 2002), in which simple
Miesian volumes are wrapped in
a light and heat diffusing layer of
slatted timber or metal.
Here, the brief is for a
weekend house on a beachfront
site, which might suggest a
sybaritic vision of lotus-eating
excess and a commensurately
indulgent architectural response.
However, the clients, a couple
with children, wanted a simpler,
heartier experience that reconnected them with nature and
the elements beyond the climate
controlled connes of ofce and
home life in the city.
Set on St Andrews Beach on
Victorias Mornington Peninsula,
the site is immediately privileged,
being one of the few locations
in Australia where construction
is permitted directly on the
foreshore. The elevated site
commands ocean views and
though hot in summer, the winter
climate is often harsh, with gale

force winds. The bar-like volume

of the building is hoisted up on
steel pilotis, adding to the sense
of elevation and transforming the
house into a vantage point from
which to survey its surroundings.
The undercroft is deployed as a
car port and storage area. Lifted
clear of the dense vegetation,
the elongated box appears to
hover lightly above the ground,
its mass further softened by a
skin of rusted metal mesh that
enfolds the two long sides like a
rough veil. More prosaically, the
cladding is actually oor grating

made from oxidised steel, a tough,

cheap industrial product creatively
appropriated for the project. In
places the gridded metal sheets
hinge open to form brises soleil.
Organisation is admirably
economical. Rooms are simply
butted together in a long line and
linked by a looping promenade
deck. A communal living, dining
and kitchen space is placed at
the prow of the block, with
three bedrooms and a study
to the rear. Depending on the
time of year, sliding glass doors
connect individual rooms with the

1
The long bar-like volume
of the house bar appears
to float in the landscape.
2
Rough, oxidised metal
mesh cladding envelops
the long flanks in a light
and heat diffottusing veil.
3
The undercroft.

SHORE PATROL
This beach house explores traditional
vernacular means of tempering climate.

HOUSE , S T A NDREW S B EACH ,

VICTORIA , A USTRALIA
ARCHITECT
SEAN GODSELL
60 | 8

61 | 8

HOUSE , S T A NDREW S BEACH ,

VICTORIA , A USTRALIA
ARCHITECT
SEAN GODSELL
5

promenade deck or seal them off

from it, but to move around the
house always involves traversing
this interstitial space, which subtly
blurs the boundary between
interior and exterior realms.
The house updates and
reinterprets traditional Australian
responses to climate moderation.
Elements of the outback
homestead the sunroom,
the breezeway and the sleepout are re-organised into an
abstract verandah which shelters

and protects the occupants

while enhancing the uidity of
the loosely dened spaces. The
external environment is ltered
and modulated through a series of
layers so while harsh extremes are
tempered, occupants are always
aware of the elemental dynamics
of light, climate and nature. C. S.

north elevation

Architect
Sean Godsell Architects, Melbourne
Photographs
All photographs by Earl Carter apart from
nos 3 & 7 which are by Hayley Franklin

roof plan

3
1 car port
2 store
3 deck
4 kitchen
5 living
6 study
7 bedroom
8 bathroom/laundry
9 bathroom

first floor

62 | 8

site plan

ground floor plan (scale approx1:750)

4
Rooms are linked by a
promenade deck.
5
Main living/dining space.
6
Sliding glass doors enclose
the inner realm, but
moving around the house
always involves negotiating
this interstitial space.
7
Room with a view.

63 | 8