Description – WATERFRONT RESIDENCE
Location of Project – AVALON SYDNEY
Year Project Commenced – 2013
As well as creating an extraordinary piece of art, MHDP Architects managed the financial control of the project from inception to completion and the house now stands as one of the most valuable properties on the Pittwater peninsular.
Dakota is a Pittwater house, taking inspiration from multiple influences such as the jutting sandstone shelf platforms of the Hawkesbury as well as maritime and aeronautical language from the Client’s love of Halverson boats and mid-century aeroplanes.
The building folds down the hillside, taking each level as an opportunity to explore its connection with place and environment. Use of natural materials within the building grounds it in the site, while the internal spaces and experience within the residence feels like the building is about to soar off into the horizon. Every corner of the building is an artistic exercise, from the real-life Dakota DC3 wing installed as the entry awning to the sandstone concrete and glass stair that winds its way down the centre of the house. There will never be another house like this one.
TESTIMONIAL
Australia by Design – 25 August 2019:
JAMIE:
“You can definitely see all the nautical influences, although it’s not just about nautical is it – it’s aeronautical. The building is about movement – boats, Halvorsens, flying boats. The building isn’t static. The kitchen bench is a Spitfire wings, the raked window in the stair is a reference to the great viewing platform of a Zeppelin and the awning over the entry is a real restored DC3 wing – a great arrival and a great sense of drama at the beginning of the house. This was an ambitious project that has been carefully considered from top to bottom to ensure that it fitted perfectly into this incredible site. It’s now become a landmark project for the area.”
MARK:
“This is Pittwater. This is what this house is all about. If you want to travel up a hill in Pittwater you go to a bay, you climb up a water course and each rock ledge gives you another aspect as you climb up the hill. This house is built exactly that way – each level gives you a different perspective of Pittwater.
You get that seamless transition to the reason why you would build a house here. A natural response to a view like this would have been to just maximise it across each level, but instead it’s much more critical to curate the views in such a way that you make people look at it in particular ways and different aspects and that has worked extremely well here.”
JAMIE DURIE AND MARK HURCUM
