Project: Balmoral Beach House
Architects: Clinton Murray and Polly Harbison
Project team: Ralph Rembel – interiors; Nicholas Byrne and Vince Myson – architectural detail and documentation; Daniel Baffsky – landscaping; Bellevarde – builder; Adam Howe and Mick Carroll – site foremen; Ken Murtagh – structural engineer
Location: Balmoral Beach, Sydney, Australia
Photography: Brett Boardman
Designed by architects Polly Harbison and Clinton Murray, the Balmoral Beach House is a robust concrete sculptural form and takes inspiration from Brutalism as much as art. Overlooking Balmoral Beach, Sydney, this new home is built with highly textured concrete walls.
Inspired by the work of Artist Isamu Noguchi, the building is sculptural in nature with its projecting volumes shifting and kinking down the site to form a continuous loop. Four volumes are carefully arrayed across the site, creating a window from the street that frames views to the water beyond. This unconventional approach goes against the grain of terraced hillside Sydney houses.
The dynamic forms engage with the street and optimise the grand views to the water while maintaining a beautiful private landscaped courtyard in the heart of the site. A rigorous and refined material palette of off-form concrete, timber and brass compliments the natural beauty of the site, and provides a backdrop for the owner’s art collection.
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