A House is a Delightful Experience

The delightful experience of any home comes from the connection of its inhabitants to it. It stems from the discovery of it, its materials, textures, scale, proportions, layers, light and depth and grows through interaction of these to an understanding and connection to it.

The Isaacson/Davis beach house has been designed to delight its inhabitants. Visitors are made to approach the house from the road, forcing them to “consider the form they are about to enter” (Ferguson, nd). This form floats above the site, giving the feeling of being a part of the environment and visitors must walk along its northern face to enter halfway down.

John Wardle describes it as a house that unpacks and repacks, like a suitcase, and while initially this seems like “architect-speak” and marketing dribble, perhaps it is not so far off the mark when speaking about the layering of the house (Jackson 2008). The house is entered up a series of stairs, after which is a bare “outdoor room”, which has bedrooms to the left, and living spaces to the right. From here, spatially, the house is layered, with a series of large glass sliding doors, layers of timber upon timber, stairs and windows, all slowly “unpacking” themselves (Oliver, 2001). Even the exterior sheath of the house is layered, peeling back in specific areas to reveal the inner skin (Goad, 1997).

The house maximises on the interplay between inside and out, solid and void, with a layering of timber and glass, open and enclosed roofs, raised and lowered spaces, and areas which extend into the environment and cantilever over its structural foundation through an extensive use of folding and packing, both in its detail and as a whole. In particular, the dining niche, which is inspired by the next door caravan park, extends far into the environment and gives the illusion of sitting outside, in the trees, while still being protected from the elements. The master bedroom and living room also have full length windows, creating a feeling of living in amongst the trees. This, together with the fact that there are no visible neighbours, gives a feeling of seclusion and living in the wilderness.