Enclave House
Accessible only by boat, Enclave House is located within Pittwater waterway. The house is enclosed by weathered sandstone ridges and headlands and positioned directly on the edge of a saltwater tidal estuary. The surrounding settlement is modest, arranged along the foreshore and connected by a shared path that links boats, jetties, beaches and the wider landscape.
Enclave House replaces an original deteriorated asbestos shack, weathered by exposure and repeated termite infestation. The clients sought a dwelling that was robust, resilient and closely attuned to the conditions of its surrounding landscape, that would sit politely in the small community.
Anchored within an existing clearing, the house establishes a platform embedded in the slope to form the primary organising datum of the plan. The platform provides necessary flat ground to a steep site. Children’s bedrooms sit below, with a central room oriented toward the foreshore. The bedrooms are in raised cabins that form edges above the communal area. The fluted concrete slab soffit provides thermal mass and structural rigidity, while also functioning as an acoustically attenuating surface, resulting in a quiet cave like interior.
Above the platform, lightweight roofs provide cover, with enclosed rooms arranged around the sheltered courtyard. The courtyard sits at the centre, acting as the primary area of occupation and connecting directly to the surrounding landscape.
The parents’ room is detached from internal circulation, while a guest room is concealed behind the study and integrated joinery. The plan omits a conventional living room, distributing living across the house and landscape through a sequence of spaces offering varied degrees of enclosure.
The courtyard and kitchen pavilion create a breezeway through the site. Behind the kitchen pavilion, a loggia provides a sense of physical and psychological grounding. Moving toward the water, the spaces open up and rise, held within the canopy of the trees and above the flooded valley of Pittwater.
A repetitive timber frame provides rhythm and tactility to interior spaces. A principle of overlapping materials, rather than flush joints, was established to reduce reliance on joint sealants and give a looseness and ease to construction.
The roof is subtly proportioned to reduce visual presence, and to draw light deep into the plan. Over the dining area, the roof lifts and breaks the form, framing views of the trees above. Embedded within the hillside, the roof becomes the fifth elevation, clad in corrugated copper for longevity, acting as a protective armature that forms a resilient cloak to the exterior.
Boat access shapes everyday life, requiring all essentials to be transported by water. This condition demands a heightened awareness of necessity, where excess becomes a burden. In response, the architecture is informed by restraint, prioritising the essential over the superfluous. The design is guided by resilience, modestly sited within a tight-knit enclave. The architecture seeks to capture a way of living rooted in its surrounding context, allowing habitation to adapt and remain flexible through seasonal shifts.
