Architecture

This Circular Beach House Will Put You In A Spin

The St Andrews Beach House is an unconventional home, inspired by the New Zealand ‘bach’ – a modest shack that takes you away from the trappings of modern life.

Austin Maynard Architects aim to challenge the replication of suburban homes in beach settings, though interrupting the conventional form with this golden circle!

Written
by
Miriam McGarry

The radiating beams of the St Andrews Beach House by Austin Maynard Architects. Photo- Derek Swalwell.

The design uses circulation rather than corridors to maximise the small footprint. Photo –Derek Swalwell.

Nestled between the sand dunes and the foreshore. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

The ground floor comprises of kitchen, living and dining, with a bathroom and laundry. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

Without a dominant orientation, every window presents a view! Photo – Derek Swalwell.

The house is made from robust materials, that will weather beautifully over time. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

A hat box, a cake tin, or a stack of golden rings. The beach house is a designer object in the landscape. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

A spiral staircase performs are the core of the house. Photo –Derek Swalwell.

The entire upstairs floor is open-plan bedroom living. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

Rich green curtains separate the adaptable sleeping spaces. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

A new typology offers a new way of living, outside of the 9-5 grind. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

Writer
Miriam McGarry
4th of February 2019

If you drive through beachside towns in Australia, you can notice a shift in building typology. The fibro shacks of childhood are slowly being replaced by large-scale suburban style homes, that provide double story views of the ocean. While TDF is no stranger to celebrating monumental architectural homes on the coast – there is something to be said for the delights of the ‘shack’, in offering spatial cues for simpler living. Somewhat ironically, this arresting circular home on the Mornington Peninsula offers an escape from the ‘circle game’ of modern life.

The architects behind the St Andrews Beach House explain ‘Australians have some of the biggest houses in the world, and holiday houses are increasingly becoming carbon copies of the suburban home.’ The owner of this home-in-the-round challenged the architects to design him a ‘bach’ – a New Zealand word to describe a modest dwelling, something akin to the Australian shack or Scottish bothy. The architects highlight how in New Zealand, ‘regardless of how much money you’ve made, you get yourself a bach, and that bach has to be the most basic, down-to-earth thing.’

The cylindrical home is remotely located, on land abutting national parkland, a stones throw away from the foreshore and sand dunes. This isolation offered the architects an opportunity to maximise views in all directions, with a design that deeply responds to a sense-of-place. The double storey circular home is nestled like a designer object in the landscape, and sits at less that five metres in radius.

The design is precise, geometric, and informed by an openness and simplicity of living. The ground floor interior is segmented into independent spaces, with the spiral staircase as a central core. Upstairs, the bedroom is ‘essentially one bunk room, separated by curtains.’

Exposed timber beams fan out through the dwelling, offering golden warmth against the polished concrete floor. The architects explain ‘ The materials have been selected to patina and weather, ‘like an old coastal wharf.’

In refusing to conform to a typical layout, this refined ‘bach’ offers the residents alternative modes of living, and ‘serves to both engage and liberate’. In symbology, the circle represents totality and wholeness. This ‘bach’ is a timeless and unified delight.

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