Holiday Home Design | Emu Bay House in South Australia by Max Pritchard

This beautiful holiday home design with spectacular panoramic ocean view in Emu Bay, South Australia is designed by Max Pritchard, An Australian Architect. Timber decked terraces either side of the living area provide outdoor seating options for different wind directions. The sheltered rear courtyard, framed by the building, large water tanks and timber screens focuses on a wood fired pizza oven.

Corrugated colorbond, timber windows, flooring and decking, reinforces the relaxed timeless holiday atmosphere whilst the floating roof form adds drama to the exposed site. With an exposed site of sweeping views, the clients required a relaxed holiday home that maximizes views, but provided sheltered outdoor areas.

The living area, with its dominant floating “lid” roof, emphasizes the drama of the exposed site. Two bedroom wings radiate from this core, and enclose a rear sheltered courtyard focusing on a wood fired pizza oven. Indented timber decks, either side of the living area, provide other options for sheltered outdoor living, with the choice dictated by wind direction.

The building is elevated a meter above the ground to maximize the view and reinforce the dramatic form. Double glazing and high performance glass, cross ventilation and fans for cooling and a highly efficient combustion heater for heating, minimize energy use. Hot water is from an efficient electric heat pump.

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An inspiring architectural residential design has been created by Tony Owen Partners located in Sydney, Australia for a client who is a concrete contractor who built the house himself.

From the architects:

The house was designed to make maximum use of concrete and solid construction. Because of the client’s heritage, the design was influenced by the materials and forms of Mediterranean Architecture. The curved shell forms reflect the sails of the fishing boats from the Greek Islands. In addition the client does a lot of entertaining and wanted a house which maximized the connection to a large outdoor space.

The house has an ‘L-shaped’ configuration to maximize the solar aspect for the living spaces. There is also a central courtyard to the west which allows for light to penetrate the middle of the house and also serves to break up the massing of the facade.

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Blairgowrie Court Residence by Frank Macchia

This architectural residential project from australian architect Frank Macchia is located in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton. The Blairgowrie Court residence is a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom home.

For more information you can try to visit the architects website Frank Macchia here.

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Anglesea House by Andrew Maynard Architects

Anglesea House by Andrew Maynard Architects

The new architectural residence design projected by Andrew Maynard Architects located in Anglesea, VIC, Australia.

Words from the architects:

More frequently holiday homes are becoming little more than transplanted suburban ugliness; the great Australian tradition of the ‘shack’ is in danger of being superseded by bloated mansions with four bathrooms and all the trappings of modern life.

With this project we wanted to celebrate the shack and have kept close to the original building’s footprint to avoid taking over the rugged coastal block.

Anglesea House by Andrew Maynard Architects

Our clients came to us with a brief for ‘much more room’ for their aging family holiday home. Our response was a series of finely-crafted timber boxes nestled around the bulk of the existing house. The bedroom addition opens up the northern facade of the house to the rugged bush block, doing double duty as the roof becomes an expansive deck to extend the living space out into the treetops.

Other additions include extra storage space and a glass-ceiling shower for more of those precious tree-top views.

Anglesea House by Andrew Maynard Architects

Anglesea House by Andrew Maynard Architects

Anglesea House by Andrew Maynard Architects

Anglesea House by Andrew Maynard Architects

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Highbury House in Queensland, Australia

This beautiful paradise residence consists of 5 bedroom, 7 bathroom contemporary house with 2496.00sqm land area is located in the Sanctuary Cove suburb of Surfer’s Paradise in Queensland, Australia.



This superb waterfront residence has it's own privacy & gated security and heaps of classic style & space. Meticulous attention to detail and quality framed by superb construction & innovative design. The massive 2,496m2 land area classifies this one of the largest private estates within The Cove. Commanding hilltop position with views North East over glistening calm waters across to Ephraim Island and Surfers Paradise.



Deep waterfront with timber decked pontoon suitable for up to 52 foot boat on 25m pool with two diving blocks, spa, terraced & timber decked entertaining area, surrounded by cascading gardens.

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Waimara House by Herriot Melhuish Architects

Located in Waimarama, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, this modern family residence designed by Herriot + Melhuish Architecture makes the most of its magnificent beachside setting by incorporating large outdoor living areas into the design.The client sought a family house on the beach, with four bedrooms plus studio and study. In this coastal setting, sun, views and habitable outdoor spaces alternately protected from and catching sun and wind were a priority.




















Combining a rational geometrical sensibility with a romantic attachment to the land and tradition, the house consists of two interlocking volumes: a white bedroom wing, loosely derived from the repetitious plan of ‘shearers’ quarters’, inserted into a double height 'timber ‘crate’. More than just a 'beach house', this is an all-year round dwelling.




















However, the need to relocate the building if required ruled out concrete construction. Instead high levels of insulation, heat pump technology and solar panels on the roof, augment the large double glazed openings that capture sun and trap heat in winter, but cool through sea breezes in summer.




















The composition of natural oiled cedar weatherboards, painted plywood and weathered zinc sheet both connects the house to the landscape and some older local traditions, but equally clearly sets it apart from much of the local built context. This is a house strongly connected to the land but prepared, if the sands and tides shift against it, to move.

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Mona Vale House by Choi Ropiha

Graeme Jessup & Barbara Elkan ( the client ) approached Choi Ropiha to design a house that would demonstrate and test a number of active and passive sustainable initiatives whilst accommodating a contemporary coastal lifestyle.

This beautiful Mona Vale house is sited on the south side of Mona Vale Headland, NSW, Australia and has expansive views over Mona Vale Beach to the south. This south facing aspect and the narrow site proportions combine to limit the passive design potential and accordingly establish the key design challenge for the project.


























Our response orients the house toward the view to the south, but opens up the roof at the centre of the house with a large north-facing skylight to admit winter sun to the south facing living areas and to trap and hold the warmth of the winter sun using the thermal mass of the structure.

The building is of reverse veneer construction. It utilizes low embodied energy and low thermal mass timber cladding to the outside and heavier thermal mass of concrete and blockwork to the inside.





















The house is able to be ‘zoned’ to 3 separate areas; the sunroom at the back, the bedroom and hallway, and the living area to the front. This assists in the retention of heat in the winter months.

Cross ventilation is carefully considered through the whole house. The front living area ventilates through a series of louvres in a bank of high level clerestory. The bedrooms also have cross ventilation via fanlight windows above doors.


















Other sustainability measures include a 15,000 L rainwater storage tank combined with grey water recycling to minimise water usage, the use of evacuated tubes for in floor hydronic heating and hot water supply, and photovoltaic solar panels to provide electricity back to the grid. The house is a ‘test-bed’ for these and other sustainability initiatives and the performance of these will be measured after occupancy.

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Beach Cottage, a Couran Point House, Australia by Arkhefield

This modern Bahaman-styled beach cottage is largely characterized by its high, angled roof that frames the home’s widespread windows and the inviting waterfront terrace below. The Couran Point house was designed by the architects of Australia’s Arkhefield firm and located in South Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia.




















The home’s north and south facades are closed off, shielding the home from both its neighbors and the stering summer sun. In addition to its thoughtful placement, this modern design incorporates sustainable features like solar technology, rainwater recycling, renewable bamboo cladding and thermally efficient monolithic flooring.

The home’s 3,821-sq.-ft. interior is divided into distinct “public” and “private” living spaces. A double-height living room promotes interaction, while the private wing of two separate levels removes the bedrooms and service areas from the rest of the house.















Conceptual Framework

The core drivers behind the build were maximising space and privacy, sheltering from the predominant south-easterly wind/weather front and creating a simple, low maintenance, sustainable living volume which could be enjoyed all year round. The isolation of the site and the harsh climatic conditions on the island are evident in the simplicity of the structure, the choice of basic, low maintenance materials and in the ability which the house is able to isolate, reorientate and shut down against the elements.



























Response to Client and User Needs

Our clients desire to recreate a ‘Bahaman’ styled beach cottage with shingled pitched roofs and quaint shuttered windows made for a challenging brief. They wanted the house to take them back to the memorable vacations they had spent in exotic locations.

Through exploration and development, it became evident that decoration and themed architecture may enable brief relapses into the bygone but that intelligent design and the creation of flexible spaces stimulated communal interaction which was what really recreated that relaxed holiday atmosphere they were seeking. They are extremely happy and are enjoying their ‘Contemporary Bahaman’ cottage which they have aptly named ‘the shed’ out on Stradbroke Island.



























Architect: Arkhefield [AF employees] - Director, Andrew Gutteridge
Project/Design Architect: Simon Wynn
Project Team: Justin Boland, Julie Tomaszewski
Building Surveyor: Bennett & Francis
Construction completed: July 2006
Hydraulic: BRW Enterprises
Interior Designer: Arkhefield
Landscape: JW Concepts
Lighting: Arkhefield
Structural: McVeigh Consulting Engineers / Steel House Frames Australia
Structure and Frame: Steel House Frames Australia
Builder: Clarke Construction (Kelwyn Cassidy, Steven Parker)
Gross floor area: 355 m2
Project cost per square metre: Client wishes this to be kept confidential
Photography: Scott Burrows

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