Staying in interesting homes designed by Australian architects has become a bit of a hobby of ours… each trip inspires and reinvigorates us.
Over what was a very short Christmas break, we decided to book a week at Seal Rocks for February, when our latest project would be completed and we could switch off completely. We found an interesting home on Stayz, and booked it in. The last time we travelled to Seal Rocks was more than 10 years ago, and we camped. This time we were set for a very different experience.
“Lot 3” was designed by Brien Kwong and Mark Oxenham. It is truly a luxury version of getting ‘back to basics’ – rammed earth walls are used throughout, leading up to a skillion roof, exposed steel beams, corrugated iron, plywood roof linings and lots of glass. The house is an L-shape, with the main pavilion running across the block, and another pavilion (with 1 bedroom and bathroom) running perpendicular to it, extending towards the bush. There are no fences; the home extends out towards the National Park at the back creating a gentle connection to the bush.
Cleverly designed to make use of the prevailing winds and bush setting, large bi-fold doors open from the living area to the level lawn, and the dining area featuring floor to ceiling louvers at each end. Naturally, due to the considerate design, air conditioning is not needed nor installed (more on this later). The open plan kitchen, living and dining area are been broken into two zones by the combustion wood fire.
I must describe and credit the designers for the clever use of joinery. As you enter the home, the living room extends out on the left. On the right is a wall of dark joinery running the entire depth of the house. As we arrived at the house and brought our bags in, I could not find the bedrooms. I started to open a few of the cupboards on the right and, aha! The doors to the bedrooms are cleverly disguised to blend into the wall of joinery, via pivot doors finished in the same colour as the joinery. It creates a very clean, modern finish, and adds to the feel of simplicity that this house does so well.
The feature of this home, in my opinion, is absolutely the use of rammed earth. Rammed earth is a mixture of aggregate, sand and clay, rammed together and set in formwork. Each block is unique and interesting, with different textures and imperfections. When illuminated with sunlight, the blocks are a work of art on their own, and thankfully, they have been featured as such here – no art adorns the walls. Aesthetics aside, their thermal mass is high, meaning it takes longer for the outside temperatures to pass through the walls – a godsend in summer. I’m sure we experienced a level of comfort that the fibro shacks either side of us didn’t.
We stayed for six nights, with up to 7 people at a time, and found it a really comfortable, functional house. We left feeling completely rested, happy and revitalised…and I imagine that’s exactly the feeling the architects intended to create.
Love:
- The design – spot on. It is worth visiting just to experience the joy of living in such a well designed, unique home. We are planning a return in winter to experience the house in a different season (and have a chance to light the beautiful fire!)
- Proximity to beautiful beaches – 1min drive to Number One Beach and a short walk to Boat Beach.
- Afternoon naps on the lounge with the sea breeze flowing through the house – divine.
- Large dining areas – one inside and one outside. Perfect for feeding the masses or for activities like drawing (for the little people) or late night scrabble (us).
- The provision of cots and highchairs made a big difference.
- We had an issue with one of the hot water systems – owner & architect Mark was really responsive and got it fixed quickly.
- The lack of mobile phone reception.
To take it to the next level:
- The home is run on tank water. The installation of a water filter in the kitchen to provide drinking water would be a great improvement. We brought 30L but had to stock up at the local shop (pricey).
- A few extra basics like mosquito coils (we ran out) and insect repellant would be good.
- A Nespresso machine would be awesome – especially as there is only one place that serves coffee and it only opens on Sunday. (Owner Pip told us this was provided before a previous guest stole it…)
Top tips for a stay at Lot 3:
- Get organised! Thankfully we knew from our previous visits to the area that there isn’t much here (that’s the appeal). There’s one local shop for the basics. Hence, we planned all our meals ahead and cooked a few before we arrived and popped them in the freezer. Bring a bit more than you think you’ll need.
- Pack some books and board games. Whilst the house has wifi available if you choose, there is no mobile reception. Perfect opportunity to disconnect.
- Bring enough drinking water, and a small Esky for the beach.
- Discuss and plan what you would do in the event of a bushfire. We stayed in the height of summer and the house is smack bang in middle of the bush. We found resources for creating our bushfire plan on the NSW Rural Fire Service website.
- Stay a while… like most holidays these days it took a few days to get into the groove of doing nothing. Once we did, it was hard to extract ourselves for the return home.
The nuts & bolts:
- 3 bedrooms – two doubles, one bunk room with six beds
- Two bathrooms – one with a bath
- Decent kitchen – plenty of crockery & serving platters, plus children’s crockery
- BBQ
- Bluetooth audio system
- Coffee plunger and percolator
- Dishwasher
- Cot and highchair
- Fully equipped laundry
- Pillows and blankets – BYO linen
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