We talk with our client, Peter, about creating his own beach house haven.
Peter, Cheryl and their family have been holidaying at South Stradbroke Island, or “South Straddie” as it is known, for 15 years. Like most regulars to the island, the appeal is in the great outdoors – the beach, boating, bushland – and the casual, relaxed way of life. A place to escape from work and the busyness of the mainland.
It was important that this translated to their holiday home. It had to be a beach house. A house they could enjoy together, and also share with family and groups of friends. Inspired by a weekend to a Spicers resort with other couples, they fell in love with the pavilion style design. The separation of spaces offered privacy, and individual retreats within the one building.
With the initial concept of a pavilion style beach house, the couple approached Happy Haus to design and build their getaway, and the collaboration began.
Peter explains, “throughout the whole process, we always felt like the Happy Haus team were designing our house. They respected our ideas, and added on them.”
“While some of the interiors, such as the VJ walls were something we knew we wanted, with much of the design – colour palette, the pitched roof – we took the team’s lead, and we are very happy with the results.”
Arranged in three pavilion zones, each space opens onto a central deck. Giving each wing the privacy of an individual entry and a connection to the outdoors. With the length of the building orientated North, the skillion roof and high level windows have been designed to capture the natural light and offer views to the sky.
If you are lucky enough to have a site with a water view, you will want to make the most of this opportunity. And for the Taylors, this view was orientated west. To protect the outdoor entertaining area, the team designed an outdoor room. A series of sliding doors, high level and layered openings, create a sheltered deck space for Peter, Cheryl and their guests to relax.
“We enjoyed spending last Summer and over the holidays at our new house, as have our adult children. We’re definitely making the most of it. We were over there just last weekend!”
From our perspective, working with Peter and Cheryl to develop their pavilion concept was highly rewarding. Through the process of getting to know their family, we were able to design the house in a way that functioned as a highly cohesive “whole” for the accommodation of large groups, while also being able to “close down” in a fuss-free manner that enables Pete and Cheryl to use only the master wing and family area when they don’t have visitors.
The design of outdoor areas with varying degrees of shade and enclosure to suit prevailing winds and solar aspect means that there is always plenty of space to live, dine and relax outdoors. Because of the flexibility afforded by the decks that connect them, the interior layouts of the pavilions themselves were able to be quite space-efficient, while setting the scene for a variety of uses, depending on who is staying in the house.
“As for the build, the house was delivered in a timely fashion, I never felt like I was chasing up on anything”. The experience was very trouble free”, says Peter.