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Spacious Skies for a Dream House on a Crowded Suburban Coastline

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The owners of this house wanted to feel like they were on holiday every day, simply alone with the sky and the sea.

But while the view ahead was fantastic, the fairly cramped site, perched high over the Pacific Ocean in suburban Sydney, Australia, was closely surrounded by large houses to the sides.

Rolf Ockert designed the house of their dreams, by clever optical illusions that open the house up and out to the sea and the sky – only to the front.

By making the space surprisingly high, the architects take advantage of the only extravagant space available: the sky.

These high side walls are also topped by a slit view of boundless skies, while blocking views of the neighbors.

Sightlines to ocean and sky are consistently pursued wherever possible, with bonus slivers of the forward view above the ceiling line.

Even the side walls contain vertical slivers of ocean views as if opening out from the sides.

Being concrete, these walls also create thermal mass; soaking up warmth during the day, and releasing it at night for a comfortable indoor climate.

The gorgeous view is to the east, so it gets direct sun into the house only in the morning.

Therefor this thermal mass on the side walls is needed.

Abundant space in the bathroom to the back is daylit only by a skylight courtyard.

This gives the sense of outdoor space while in reality, there is only a few feet between this wall and the neighbours.

Within the house, a rich palette of strong, earthy materials, like rust metal finishes and thick, textured renders, contrasts with the expenses of glass to the skies.

Weighty textural contrasts in the back anchor the house against the airy, light aspect created by the opening to the views.

With all of these clever optical tricks, the architects succeeded in designing a dream house with an easy and generous sophistication and spaciousness.