K House

Photography: Peter Bennetts Copyright: ARM 2007

Beginning with the letter ‘K’ was not entirely arbitrary as our client’s family name begins with it. By cutting the K in half and rotating the two pieces, the house emerged as a composition suspended along the maximum building height envelope to achieve the best sea views. Under this we projected its shadow to form the ground level accommodation. The plan is simple, the ground floor cut into the sloping site with entry off the carpark to two bedrooms, bathrooms and home cinema, then up to the long living, dining and kitchen, all facing north and open each end, east to the sea, west to the garden. The kitchen joinery, pantry wall, big sliding door and enormous ceiling-high bookshelf ‘K’ are painted brilliant, glossy red. The main bedroom and another bedroom are also at this level, with a spiral stair to the library above. This is a shiplap weatherboard house in the tradition of the seaside shack. It has bold, legible forms and an easy livability belying its extreme derivation in the shape of that K.