A lovely home overlooking a lagoon

Sarah Tolle – Homify Canada Sarah Tolle – Homify Canada
Project #2, CHROFI CHROFI Modern houses
Loading admin actions …

The Narrabeen House is located on the edge of Narrabeen Lagoon in the beautiful Australia, its expansive backyard patio overlooking the water with views of a wild, untouched island dense with vegetation. On the other side, you'd never be able to tell you were sitting right beside a natural paradise, as the neighboring houses and streets create a more suburban feel. The architects who built this projects replaced the former 1970s cream brick home that used to stand in the same location – the old structure functioned poorly, and it did little to interact with the unique environment offered by the beautiful lagoon.

​Modernism

Inside and out, this home relies on strong, straight lines and a complex repetition of interlocking and parallel planes as its main defining characteristics. This building offers a vision heavily influenced by modernism, with its flat roof and hidden gutters, in addition to a juxtaposition of several high-contrast materials. This expansive backyard patio allows tiered access directly from several rooms of the ground floor, leading effortlessly down in to the grassy yard, and shortly thereafter, the lagoon. A glass railing provides protection from falls without blocking any of the spectacular views.

​Pool

The right side of the deck houses a narrow swimming pool, half sheltered under the roof, and half exposed to the sun.

​Backyard escape

This home makes it easy to the enjoy the outdoors with this spacious patio design, allowing residents to come and go through an unusually wide doorway. Several of the sliding glass panels can be seen lined up together on the right.

​Street-facing

The side of the home that faces the street is a bit more sheltered, offering more privacy to its residents.

​Very open concept

This house takes the term open concept layout to a whole new level! With the green water of the lagoon visible beyond the far side of the home, it becomes apparent that this home has been designed with a sense of openness and freedom. With few interior walls – and several walls made of glass or slats of wood instead of opaque materials – the ground floor remains wide open! A courtyard can be found in the center, in a similar style to that of the wooden patio in the backyard.

Convertible courtyard

This image shows how a wooden panel can be extended to provide shelter from the open air and sunlight of the courtyard.

To tour a home with another creative courtyard design, take a look at this eco-friendly, tropics-inspired home!

​Stairs

Enclosed in a hallway composed of slats of vertical wooden planks, this unique staircase makes a statement descending into the middle of the room. However, it doesn't hog the spotlight – the cut-out design still provides plenty of visibility for the panorama beyond (not to mention, the open slats are perfect for letting the breeze waft through). An enormous kitchen island and long white couch create similar elongated shapes in parallel orientation to the stairs, each creating a sense of movement that directs you towards the lovely lagoon!

What do you think of this modern wooden home? Comment below!

Need help with your home project?
Get in touch!

Highlights from our magazine