Project: George Street Duplex, Burleigh Heads QLD

Project Description:

The site is located along the Burleigh Heads ridge with an area of 531m² with a 20 m frontage. There was an existing 3 storey brick and tile antiquated house designed and built in the 1970's, which had to be modified and adapted to house a duplex for two different families. We were briefed by each client to undertake a purpose designed home for each of them. The design needed to capitalize on its high hillside location taking in the significant views to the north up the beach to the distant high rises of Surfers Paradise. The site had another unique feature, in that it backed onto a National Park reserve to the south, and the design needed to exploit the views to this nature reserve as well. This was achieved by the large formal living rooms on the top level in an open plan format with generous glazing panels to the north and south facades. Large balconies that blurred the lines between the indoor/outdoor interface helped to achieve the required objectives.

The major challenge was to demolish the top floor and roof of the existing dwelling, then essentially cut the existing building in half, and add a further 2 floors to achieve the spaces required in the building. Modifications were made to the existing substantial structure but essentially a 4 m new construction zone was added along the entire northern facade to accommodate the dwellings. Each dwelling ended up approx 450m² in area, and each accommodated a separate personal lift, double garages, separate entries, 4 bedrooms plus study, 3 bathrooms, games room, home theatre room , kitchen/dining/living rooms, and outdoor rooms in the form of large balconies and spa/pool/bbq terrace areas. The spaces are well zoned over the 4 levels so that occupants can have quiet enjoyment of the spaces without overly interfering with others.

Each dwelling needed to have its own identity, yet needed to display a similar design vocabulary to reinforce the duplex form and the streetscape urban design.