Holocene House

The result

A rainforest glade

Entering the home, you make your way through the entrance gate into an enchanted world. Crossing an entry pond, you step from stone to stone and climb up a set of stairs alongside a cascading waterfall to a glass door that opens directly into the living space. All around you is what feels like a quiet rainforest creek shaded by plants and open to the natural world. The air is filled with the play of water, a light and soundscape awash in colour from the stained glass windows in large panels to the northeast and northwest. It’s playful and rejuvenating all at once.

“We loved the concept already, but the house feels even better than we expected,” says Jurgen. “The first time we walked in, we were very happy. It was warm and inviting. We felt a sense of accomplishment. And we were curious about how it would feel throughout the year.”

A veil of plants

A canopy of plants spreads overhead, creating a semi-transparent veil that shades the home naturally, allowing dappled sunlight to pour through. Air and rain can permeate this breathable space, keeping you connected to nature. With more than 20 floating planters, a little forest is growing and will eventually stream down into the whole space.

“Eventually the canopy will resemble tree canopies above, with leaves swaying in the wind and water dropping like rainfall into the tranquil watercourse below. It’s a contemporary interpretation of a landscape and environment, invoking memories of our human experience in nature,” says Clinton.

A rainforest creek

The heart of the home is the natural swimming pool, fed by ponds carved into natural rocky outcrops at the rear. Passing through stepped polishing ponds, abundant reed beds and inlets filtered through charcoal pebbles, the water enters the pool running along the living space and cascades in a waterfall down to the home’s entrance. Dark tiles enhance the feeling of a natural stream.

Just as in a rainforest creek, this network of natural features works with the sun’s UV rays to provide a biofiltration system that cleans and aerates the water as it circulates toward the street then back to the rear of the home. Water from the home enters a grey water filter and irrigates the lush garden planting. This filter and pump are the only mechanical devices in the pool system. Because the pool has automatic balancing and no chemicals, it’s very low maintenance – it’s a simple matter of cleaning the filter once a week to keep the pool healthy.

The result is a beautiful lap pool that doesn’t just sit in the space – it flows through it. The owners can paddle their feet, swim, and float, just as in a creek lined with bush rocks and trees. Or they can hang out at its edge with a book, lounging in the cargo net suspended over the waterfall.

“It’s the first natural pool we’ve been involved with that has become a built reality. We understood how simple and beneficial to the clients and the environment they are,” Clinton says. “We approached the pool design and system as another source of water to feed plants and encourage native wildlife.”

In their element

The three-level home’s long, narrow profile artfully captures the sun all day and all year round and carefully follows the site topography so natural undulations and sandstone outcrops are part of the experience of living there. All levels connect to the pool and garden to create the feeling of indoor-outdoor living. The structure is so permeable that you’re not always protected from the outdoors – wind blows through, rain streams in, sunlight plays on the surfaces.

“Now we’ve lived in the house for several months, we’re still very happy. We’re discovering things all the time – like changing light during the day and pleasing small details,” says Karin. “We’re happy with our home’s usability and function – it performs well during the cold and in the heat. We feel we made mostly the right decisions.”

A sacred space

Through large stained glass panels in the double-height front living space, Shelly Beach is perfectly framed, washed in colour. The stained glass deconstructs the view, inviting people to take a different perspective on the way water panoramas are worshipped, even fetishised, in a harbour city like Sydney. Turning away from the view and into the living space, the panel’s unconventional patchwork pattern creates beautiful and unexpected light effects that uplift and delight – a reminder that here, what’s sacred is the relationship with nature, and sustaining ourselves and our family within it.

Karin says: “We love the coloured windows. Especially during winter when the sun is flatter, or on greyish days. They lighten the mood. The coloured reflections change throughout the day. We are so happy that we went with them – it was a risky move and so worth it. They do trigger controversial comments!”

A roof garden

Of course, the iconic coastal views don’t go unnoticed. But they’re experienced discreetly from a delightful private outdoor space at the top of the building, accessible via a compact spiral stairway. Neighbouring properties have end-to-end balconies on multiple levels – here the approach is more modest. An inconspicuous rooftop garden offers views to Shelly Beach. There’s a dwarf apple tree that will one day produce fruit. This sensitive approach creates a private and intimate space where the clients can quietly enjoy the view.

“Having multiple areas to hang out is great. Each room has a different feel, so we can pick one based on mood or time of the day. On the weekend, we usually have breakfast either in the outdoor room or in the rooftop garden,” says Jurgen.

Kitchen

The kitchen is bisected by an expansive 9.2-metre-long island benchtop made from locally sourced recycled hardwood. There’s plenty of room for the kids to study while their parents are cooking.

Jurgen says: “The kitchen is the centre of the house and it works even better than we expected. It brings us together as a family and with our friends. The long bench is awesome for gathering. We cook more together, flowing back and forth between the cooking and dining areas.”

The kitchen joinery is built from Paperock with little niches that give the experience of dappled light falling onto the surfaces. “We cut the holes out of the cabinetry to suggest the reflection of sunlight through the trees – the random pattern suggests the pleasing hit-and-miss effect of leaf-filtered light,” says Clinton.

“The daybed is the place to hang out,” says Jurgen. “It’s constantly used and we’re so happy it’s big – initially we thought it would be way too big. Kids come down to play or read. We open and close doors depending on the wind, changing the character of the room.”

Art room

Across the deck from the kitchen is a generous room for the children. It’s an airy space with only fixed joinery along one wall to encourage creative play, whether on low tables or on canvas sprawled on the floor. There’s easy access to both the pool and the back yard. Parents can supervise all these areas discreetly from the main living area, fostering independence.

Home office

The clients like to walk while thinking, so the first-floor office is separated from the rest of the home by an outside walkway. This creates a distinct space for work, promoting work-life balance. Stunning coastal views unfold through large windows. A toilet is tucked away in the curved wall. A scalloped concrete ceiling relief becomes a beacon of light when seen from the street in the evening, reflecting the roof garden above.

Second floor

Upstairs is the library. Beyond is a guest room, the children’s bedrooms and the main bedroom, with three ensuite bathrooms. All bedroom doors open toward the canopy space and a deck that overlooks the pool. In this way, everything tends toward the rainforest creek at the centre of the house and everyone interacts with the outdoors as they go about their day. The main bedroom extends this sensibility toward the national park at the rear of the home. With a long daybed for contemplating the beautiful coastal heath through a big picture window, it’s a quiet retreat that breathes calm and peace.

Garage

Cut into local sandstone, the garage was an interesting challenge for the CplusC team. In line with the design vision of permeability to the elements, it’s not sealed up. Instead, it’s open to the weather. To make it secure, it’s enclosed by stainless steel wires. The creek flows down through it to the waterfall at the front of the house, where it is recycled back into the system.

The garage prioritises an active lifestyle over cars, providing easy access to surfboards and bikes. There’s only one car, provisioned by a Tesla car charging station. A custom designed and hand-crafted outdoor shower stops sand being tracked into the house from the beach.

The garage is also the engine room of the sustainable home. Most of its space is allocated to plant, including filtration systems, heat pumps and battery storage for solar energy generated by the rooftop PV array.

A mini urban farm

The home’s yard takes a step toward self-sufficiency, reducing the carbon footprint of the food residents eat. There’s a productive fruit, vegetable and herb garden at the back. Garden clippings, leaves and other biodegradable waste are composted in a mulching system to boost soil fertility. Food scraps are fed to the chickens, which lay eggs to feed the family. There’s even a garden shed to store tools. It’s as close to off-grid as you can get in Australia’s biggest city.

Materials

Every aspect of the home’s design and construction emphasises low impact on the environment in the short and long term, particularly the careful consideration given to the materials used throughout.

The clients were passionate about minimising toxins from all finishes and building materials. CplusC is equally committed. But while we have extensive experience in sourcing highly sustainable materials, compromises had to be made because some materials were difficult to obtain or unaffordable for a family home.

For the exterior, we settled on spotted gum hardwood Shou Sugi Ban, a Japanese method of pre-charring the timber. Shou Sugi Ban is low maintenance, durable and has low environmental impact. These choices meant the home exterior required very little priming, painting or other potentially toxic treatment and will not need to be repainted in future as the materials weather naturally. Importantly, they also enabled us to achieve a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) rating of 29, meeting the Australian standard for fire-proofing homes in such close proximity to bushland.

For the interiors, low chemical compound materials combine to make the construction extremely nontoxic. Joinery was built from low-formaldehyde plywood and Paperock, a durable composite building material made from reconstituted paper pulp with no toxic elements. All finishes are low-VOC.

Other measures to reduce the home’s environmental footprint include the low embodied energy materials used throughout, such as Boral Envisia, a type of lower carbon concrete, and low-maintenance fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) used to create the latticework effect in the canopy.

Sustainably sourced and recycled timber were used extensively. Certified timber included: Shou Sugi Ban cladding; thermally modified vulcanised timber Abodo used throughout for ceiling linings; bulletproof and maintenance-free, paint-free Barestone panels for internal wall linings; plus the kiln-dried Australian hardwoods used in feature joinery, stair treads, external ceiling linings, and expressed structural timber. Hardwood doors, windows, benchtops and flooring use recycled timber sourced from locally demolished inter-war homes, reducing the need to cut down new trees.

The construction also prioritised recycling and re-use of existing materials released by the demolition of the existing home and excavation of the site.  The timber, concrete and local sandstone that resulted were used in the landscaping, driveway and rear yard.

Fully automated

The owners can interact with the home easily using a smartphone. They can control lights, locks, louvres, blinds, batteries, thermal comfort, security, irrigation, the solar array and even cleaning and maintenance of the floor and pool. It’s simple to keep an eye on things and adjust services at home or on the go. Sensors in planters and gardens read when plants need water and make sure they have what they need to grow luxuriantly.

Climate resilient

The home acts as a water catchment or reservoir, creating its own climate-resilient water system that does not require mains supply. The pool captures rainfall and water from the irrigation system mounted in the canopy above it. Rainwater and grey water from the home’s washing machine and showers are used for irrigation. Rainwater stored in a 15-kilolitre underground tank provides enough water for daily needs, including showers, washing machines and toilets. In times of drought, residents can live off their own water for months and there’s adequate water for the garden to thrive. The reservoir’s healthy water and carefully chosen native plants help nurture coastal ecology – and our friends the bandicoots.

Regenerative

The home is designed to be self-sustaining and produce more than it consumes. Powered by renewable energy, it’s completely self-sufficient and in fact generates 20 percent more energy than residents need. Solar power generated by the PV system on the roof and stored in the onsite battery is enough to charge an electric car plus keep the home comfortable year-round via the hydronic heating and cooling system in the concrete slab and carefully placed radiators. An energy-efficient heat pump provides hot water. It also heats the pool so people can swim in cooler months.

Immense learnings

“The clients were influential. They were so committed to regenerative design principles and willing to dive into all the granular details. Their idea for a natural pool really inspired us. We learned immensely from collaborating with them and it’s amazing how many ideas are still flowing from this project, giving life to ideas we’re working on now,” says Clinton.