Narrabeen House by Choi Ropiha Fighera

This 3,230 square-foot contemporary residence is located on the edge of Narrabeen Lagoon, a suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The project aimed to re-dress the connection with the lagoon and island balustrades in a suburban qualities the street and this dramatic contrast between the front and back of the property.

The themes is a framework of the ‘suburban ideal’ – a framework that would allow the house to address the street as any other suburban house would, while inwardly pursuing the ideals of oasis and retreat where the water experience could be used to maximum impact – in effect, amplifying the current contrast between street and lagoon.

A series of threshold devices increasingly separate the visitor from the street, to the extent that in the main living spaces there is no sense of neighbours, of the suburb, or of the city beyond.

framework architecture Narrabeen House by Choi Ropiha Fighera

This sets up two key planning strategies.
Firstly, a central courtyard is introduced as the principal organising element for the planning with all of the house’s key public spaces – living room, dining room, kitchen, study and pool – grouped around the courtyard to connect these spaces visually, and physically when the courtyard walls are opened up. The arrangement promotes a socially inclusive dynamic as well as extending the spatial opportunities of the house. The courtyard also has a significant environmental role bringing sun, light and air into the centre of the house.
Secondly, the planning is composed to deliberately isolate the occupant from the suburban surrounds to heighten the sense of oasis and privateness. This process begins at the street bringing visitors through a succession of exterior spaces that gradually compress and remove the street context through a composition of fences, full height screens and thresholds. The entry sequence eventually terminates at a solid doorway where the sense of intrigue peaks. Rather than entering into a hallway, one arrives in the courtyard where the full extent of the private domain, the lagoon and island are revealed and any sense of the outside world removed.

central courtyard Narrabeen House by Choi Ropiha Fighera

The design also makes use of varying heights above the adjacent water. As the house is built on a flood plain, the structure is by necessity raised from the ground. This includes not just the house, but the courtyard itself. In relation to the raised courtyard, the swimming pool is below, built at ground level. And upon entering the house’s inner space the visitor realises that there is a second storey that cannot be seen from the street, and from which they can find views of the surrounding landscape.

The materiality further develops the notion of oasis with a simple calming palette of warm natural materials that have a beneficial environmental effect while connecting the house with the natural environment of the lagoon and island.
Architect: Choi Ropiha Fighera
House in: North Narrabeen, New South Wales, Australia