LOCATION: Yallingup, Western Australia

PROJECT TYPE/SERVICES: Luxury Residential / Single House / Full Architectural Service

FLOOR AREA: 500 square metres

PROJECT COST: $2.1M AUD

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Also known as Ithaca-Yallingup, this spacious luxury architect designed home epitomises relaxed, generous, warm modernism and coastal style. The project is located on a beautiful sloping site in the Millbrook Estate, Yallingup.

The Challenge:

To design a spectacular weekender, short term luxury rental and future residence for a rural, steeply sloping, bushfire prone and high clay content site with its best views looking west.

We came up with an ultra simple, ultra minimal, elegant L- shaped plan that embraced the building envelope and physically locked in to and floated above the landscape.

DESIGN FEATURES:

• large concrete rainwater tank hidden beneath the double garage.

• living areas on the upper level with bedrooms on the lower level to maximise views.

• back-to back double fireplaces that heat both the inside and outside lounge areas.

• covered alfresco deck with built-in kitchen connecting to a separate studio/library.

• fully retractable all weather external venetian blinds to the west elevation.

• kitchen and butler’s pantry designed with the help of Must Wine Bar’s Russell Blaikie.

Vehicles enter from the highest point on the site along a gravel driveway. Stepping down from the driveway, visitors enter from a south facing covered porch, taking in views across the valley, then into a glazed gallery. The generous double garage shares a level with the laundry and mud room.

From there the passage/gallery steps down to the main living area which hovers above the landscape with full height glazing taking in the breathtaking views to the south, west and north with glimpses of Smith’s Beach in the distance. The expansive glazing can be protected from the west with operable louvre sun-shading.

The main living area is linked to the large covered terrace by large sliding doors either side of a double sided Yallingup Stone fireplace. The covered terrace is open to the west to take in the views and sea-breeze. Also open to the east, the deck has intimate views of the grass tree covered hillside and can be closed off with glass bi-fold doors.

The covered outdoor living deck has a lounge setting and timber and stainless steel outside kitchen on the north side.

The covered terrace connects in turn to the large studio on the north end of the main living wing.

From the main living room a single flight stair descends down to the sleeping and bathroom level which nestles into the natural landscape to the east and opens on to a cascade of steps down to a grassed landscape terrace on the west.

The master bedroom has west and north facing corner glazing looking out to beautiful stands of eucalypts and a door opening out onto a terrace with an infinity edge spa.