Modern house with white and black exterior, wooden accents, surrounded by green plants and trees, on a cloudy day.

BRONTE HOUSE, 2024

Seal of the Excellence in Housing Awards 2024 by the Master Builders Association of Victoria, indicating a winner.

Project Brief & Design Intent

For a young family returning to Australia after many years living overseas, the brief was to transform an original single-storey brick beachside house into a generous, light-filled family home — one that captured both the excitement of a new chapter and a sense of permanence. The ambition was to cut into the steeply sloping site and rework the existing dwelling into a cohesive three-level residence, ensuring a strong connection between interior spaces and the backyard while maintaining calm, privacy and clarity throughout. The design sought to dissolve boundaries between inside and out, using space, light and material warmth to shape a home that feels grounded, expansive and distinctly coastal.

Construction & Craftsmanship

The transformation of Bronte House required a high level of technical resolution and on-site precision. Entry now occurs at mid-level, opening into a double-height foyer that immediately establishes scale, warmth and architectural intent. From here, the home unfolds vertically and horizontally, revealing carefully layered living spaces connected by a sculptural timber staircase constructed on site by TO THE MIL’s carpentry team.

The rear of the home is resolved as a generous open-plan living zone, where kitchen, dining and living areas flow seamlessly toward the garden. Extensive floor-to-ceiling and double-storey glazing floods the interior with natural light, enhances cross-ventilation and reinforces the relationship between the home and its landscaped setting.

Timber plays a defining role throughout the project —across ceilings, wall linings, stair elements and bespoke joinery — delivering warmth, continuity and a refined material language. Burnt and charred timber cladding was selected for its durability and visual depth, lending texture and resilience appropriate to the coastal environment. All trades were carefully coordinated to ensure detailing, alignment and finishes were executed with consistency across every level of the home.

Material Palette

The material selection is restrained yet richly layered, allowing craftsmanship and proportion to take precedence:

→ Timber: A consistent timber palette used across ceilings, joinery and stair elements to create warmth and cohesion.

→ Recycled Brick: Reintroduced internally as a feature wall, referencing the original structure and grounding the new intervention.

→ Stone & Marble: Applied to key surfaces to elevate the interior and introduce a sense of quiet luxury.

→ Glass & Glazing: Full-height and double-storey glazing to maximise light, airflow and indoor–outdoor connection.

Together, these materials balance refinement with robustness, ensuring the home will age gracefully overtime.

Client & Architect Experience

The scale and complexity of the project required a disciplined and collaborative approach between architect, builder and trades. Structural challenges, council requirements and site constraints were resolved through clear communication and careful coordination, allowing design intent to be carried through construction without compromise to detail or build quality.

Outcome 

Bronte House stands as a confident reimagining of an existing beachside home — a layered, luminous family residence shaped by site, structure and material restraint. By cutting into the sloping block and reorganising the home across three levels, the project achieves a seamless flow between living spaces and landscape, balancing openness with privacy and calm. 

The project was recognised for its disciplined execution and exceptional quality of workmanship, with judges highlighting the successful integration of old and new, the full-height entry, the sculptural timber staircase, expansive floor-to-ceiling glazing and the controlled use of Shou Sugi Ban cladding. Together, these elements reflect a level of construction excellence typically associated with architecturally rigorous residential work.

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