Barwon Heads Beach House

Location: Barwon Heads, Victoria
Year: 2022
Scope: New residential architecture
Status: Completed 2022
Photography: Marlena Quill

Long low timber beach house with a deep verandah in coastal light

The brief

A Melbourne family had owned a flat block behind the front dune at Barwon Heads for years, with an ageing fibro shack on it that had reached the end of its life. They wanted a weekend house that could take sandy feet, wet towels and a houseful of teenagers, and that would not need painting and patching every second summer.

The brief was refreshingly short. Somewhere to sleep eight, a kitchen that opens to where everyone gathers, and as little maintenance as the coast allows. No statement. Just a good, plain house that would still be standing well after the children had children.

Coastal dune scrub on a flat sandy block

Our response

We kept the house low and long, sitting it behind the dune rather than over it, so it ducks under the worst of the wind and keeps the view for the neighbours behind.

The plan is simple: a long living and kitchen space facing the afternoon sun, with bedrooms strung along a sheltered northern side away from the salt-laden southerlies. A deep verandah wraps the western end, giving shade in summer and a dry place to sit when the weather closes in.

Every material was chosen to weather rather than fail. The cladding is silvertop ash, left to grey off naturally so there is nothing to repaint. Floors are sealed concrete that takes sand and seawater without complaint. Inside, plywood linings keep the house warm and forgiving, and the whole thing is built to coastal wind and bushfire requirements without ever looking like a bunker.

Open living and kitchen space lined in plywood with a concrete floor

Materials and approach

Weathered grey timber cladding — Silvertop ash cladding, left unfinished to silver off in the salt air.

Sealed concrete floors throughout, hard-wearing and easy to live with.

Birch plywood wall and ceiling lining — Birch plywood linings to the ceilings and walls of the living space.

Structure: Timber frame on a concrete slab
Cladding: Silvertop ash, unfinished
Floor: Sealed concrete
Linings: Birch plywood
Glazing: Marine-grade aluminium, double glazed
Roof: Colorbond, low pitch

Outcome

Two summers in, the cladding has greyed off as intended and the house has needed almost nothing. It sleeps the family and a steady stream of guests, and it does the one thing a good beach house must do, which is to make leaving the city feel like the moment the holiday starts. The project was published by The Local Project in 2022.