Palm Beach Duplex

Palm Beach, Qld

Dn:a (Douglas Neale) and Jo Case Architect

This project, a duplex in Palm Beach, exploits its unique setting with its north western rear boundary facing Lake Laguna near the Currumbin Creek estuary. The solution arranges the generous double-height public volumes of each unit to activate street and lagoon frontages respectively, interacting the public life of the street and the popular Lagoon promenade with each unit.

Car parking is off set and made permeable by the inclusion of an entry court, further reinforcing the interaction with the street. This strategy enabled the provision of a generous landscaped court in the centre of the lot allowing privacy for light and ventilation rather than from the side boundary setback as is typical for the duplex type.

Materials and construction have been pared to a minimal palette of concrete, masonry and painted fibre cement sheet recalling the unselfconscious forms of beach houses of the past. Selected local coastal plants amplify the project in its setting.