If you told an architect that you wanted to build a beach house on a coastal erosion zone, you’d probably get a strange look and a quick walk to the door.
But Crosson, Clarke, Carnachan Architects accepted the challenge.
What they made blows my mind.
Designed for a family of five, this beach house makes you think you’re on the beach.
Because you are – literally.
It’s built on two huge wooden sleds that allow the owners to move the house either farther up on land or onto a waiting barge during bad weather.
Some cool features in this design:
- macrocarpa wood siding
- bare copper faucets and plumbing hardware
- ladders instead of stairs
- huge hinged door on the front of the house
- massive windows framed with steel
- gravity-fed water supply
And at only 131 square feet, the beach house definitely qualifies for tiny status.
Here’s what the architects had to say,
For these clients it was all about the real essence of the hut; small, simple and functional. The hut comes to life when the enormous shutter on the northeast facade winches open to form an awning, revealing two-storey high steel-framed glass doors that form the main entrance. The hut then transforms into a sun drenched haven, opening up to the views of the surf and the distant Mercury Islands.
The mezzanine bedroom is accessed by climbing a wall-mounted ladder through a closeable hatch, it shares the same view as downstairs through the huge glass doors. Climb the ladder again and you arrive on a roof terrace which catches rainwater for the gravity tanks behind.
The beach house looks plain when it’s closed up.
But crank open the windows and front wall…
…and the house quickly comes to life.
One entire side of the home opens to the beach.
Looking in reveals the huge great room.
The floor plan is quite simple.
Peering down from the second floor.
Stay cozy at night with a fire in the rustic wood stove.
Gravity fed water tanks are hidden away behind the structure.
Innovative use of raw plumbing for hand controls.
More plain piping in the shower.
Bunks in the kids loft.
And a ladder up to the roof in the master bedroom. Late night stargazing?
Moving the house is a simple matter of hooking up the tractor.
The sleds allow the house to glide over the sand.
Storm shutters protect the massive windows from damage.
What a view.
Ahhh…looks so relaxing and tranquil.
I love that last picture with the evening twilight and amber glow from the house. This has to be one of my all-time favorite tiny houses.
Source: Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects
Photography by Jackie Meiring & Simon Devitt
H/T: ClimatePro
