Embrace

Drinking in iconic harbour views, a newly built home looks as if it has been in place forever thanks to the lush gardens that enfold it.

- Karen Mccartney

Architect Nick Tobias of Tobias Partners is very much in his comfort zone in the well-heeled, waterside suburb of Vaucluse. As we chat on the leafy street outside his recently completed Hopetoun House, he high fives the teenage son of a close friend and has a short cheerful exchange with the driver of a passing car. Clearly, he is in his natural habitat.

The project began with a brief for the extensive renovation of a spectacularly ugly 1980s house in a great location with harbor views and set in a valley that leads to a small beach. “I am all for keeping existing structures if they have merit but after initial sketches of what we could and couldn’t do, it became clear that it was better to rebuild than renovate,” he says.

Set back from the road with a pedestrian walkway fronting the house, the site is an awkward triangular shape. “Where you need it to be expansive it converges to a point,” says Nick, aware that his clients wanted to maximize the sense of space and vista. The problem solving begins with the entrance sequence.

Rather than the house masking the view, an intriguing slice of water, sky, and trees is visible along the left-hand side, giving a sense of context. “We wanted a simplified material palette for the exterior,” says Nick of the strategic mix of textured render, exposed off-form concrete, and fine steel window frames.