House as Landscape: Beach Retreat Both Blends & Blooms
It is perhaps easy to make a house fit a landscape when there is a compelling landscape to respond to – but what of a beachfront property that makes it hard to respond to nature or keep a low profile?
BKK of Melbourne spent a good deal of time going back and forth between interior and exterior considerations, creating a beach retreat blending privacy and views, but also making something that seemed appropriate to its place.
The result feels organic and grown rather than singular and assembled – a series of masonry and metal ramps and offshoots that spring up out of the site like ancient mud architecture or a modern anthill.
While it is expressive on the outside, it is also cozy inside – a series of more personal-scale, fewer-windowed rooms that respond to functional needs, with larger openings rising toward the water.
