The Growing House
Hastings Parade
Better late than never! Ten years after it was designed, the Hastings Parade house is finally endowed with its third floor.
Designed in 2007 and reduced to two storeys owing to the enforced austerity of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, the home was recently purchased by a very generous Luigi Rosselli Architects supporter and we were asked to complete the original plan, complete with its third floor and a spa pool at the edge of the Hastings cliffs. To be accurate, the original design had a swimming pool on the edge of the of the cliff however, due to the existence of cave eroded by wind and waves under the edge of the backyard we opted not to excavate the pool in order to avoid weakening the rock shelf on that cliff hanger.
The house is dedicated to the contemplation of the sea on one side and the world famous Bondi Beach on the other. Every level has terraces or balconies; some uncovered, others shaded. It is a place where one may live half the day outside, catching the breeze and a glimpse of whales and dolphins dancing through the ocean swell.
Location : Bondi, Sydney, NSW
Council: Waverley Council
Completion: Stage 1 – March 2011 | Stage 2 – January 2016
Design Architect : Luigi Rosselli
Project Architect : Simon Hassall
Builder : Stage 1 – Buildsmart Projects | Stage 2 – Building With Options Pty Ltd
Structural Consultant : Rooney & Bye Consulting Civil & Structural Engineers
Landscape Architect : Visual Landscape Designs
Joiner: Sydney Joinery Pty Ltd
Window Furnishings : Simple Studio
Shutters and Blinds : Shutters By Design
Woven Screen : Tracey Deep
Photographer : Edward Birch
© Edward Birch
The blackbutt stair has a Tracey Deep designed screen that doubles as a balustrade.
© Edward Birch
© Edward Birch
A floating kitchen island, levitating above a blackbutt timber floor, the mirror base plays games with the sunlight, its rays filtered by the ‘S’ wave sheer curtains.
© Edward Birch
Sunrise from the spa pool, cut into the side of the rock shelf, sitting on a hollowed out rock ledge. The thirty-five metre drop to the ocean is a reminder that we are living on the edge… life is short and nature is fragile.
© Edward Birch
This outdoor sitting room is an opera box to view the theatre of life in Bondi Beach. The materials draw inspiration from nautical architecture, timber decking, slender and light steel structure and timber soffits.
© Edward Birch
Behind the timber vertical louvres a bedroom is hidden. The louvres are remote controlled and wrap around the curved corners.
© Edward Birch
Corrugated roofing was used as formwork for the concrete walls and some corrugated roofing was affixed as cladding to the garage door.
© Edward Birch
The two storey house, semi-complete as it was, was appreciated by many for a decade.
© Edward Birch