An Australian Beach Residence That Echoes Sydney’s Opera Home

“I spent a year of weekends drawing the Opera Home and realized that the continuity and rhythm of the podium is what tends to make the sails float and dance…The exact same approach is utilised in this residence,” explains Australian architect Alexander Symes, who, along G+V Architecture, conceived of this jaw-dropper of a property on the southern coast of Australia. Austinmer Beach Property, named for the suburb in which it resides, stands tall, elevated on massive concrete columns to take full advantage of the seascape to the east and the mountains to the west.

Symes, who cites both Denmark’s Jørn Utzon and Sweden’s Sigurd Lewerentz as architectural influences, has clearly expressed those influences in a liberal use of timber, each inside and out an exacting emphasis on craftsmanship and eco sensitivity and, most dramatically, in the sweeping curves that define the property’s main volume—a nod to Utzon’s masterwork (see our current piece on the Sydney Opera Residence here). Currently feted with awards and accolades, Austinmer Beach Residence is, nonetheless, described by Symes as, “just a beach property.” And, in so undertaking, he could really nicely have redefined the word ‘just.’

Photos: Wish to Inspire ArchitectureAu