Beach Houses

A clever design captures bush views and sunlight and turns away from the neighbours so you feel like you're in a world of your own...

This beach house is all about creating informal living spaces, decks and shelter from the sun and wind for optimum beachside living.

Even a block in a typical housing estate can benefit from an architect's touch, creating a home that's a joy to live in year-round...

This 1980s-era home already had a stellar location. Thanks to an internal reno, it has everything else you'd want in a home, too...

A beach house doesn't need to feel like a glass box on stilts, this home feels intimate while still celebrating the views.

Designed to make the most of the view, even from the backyard, this prefab modular home is like a viewing scope towards the ocean.

Some clever solutions mean even a home on a long, narrow block can capture scenic, wraparound views of the ocean.

This flexible beach house is the perfect surf trips big and small because it's focussed on the outdoors to create extra living space.

An addition to this mid-century gem keeps the essence of the original while ensuring it's fit for family life in this century.

Using the slope to its advantage, this beach house cascades down the hill and focuses your attention on the stunning coastline views.

This retired couple wanted an intimate home for themselves, but what happens when extended family visit? Enter the 'connected plan'...

These retirees packed up their life in Western Victoria to move to Barwon Heads. What lifestyle would you want out of a seachange?

Can you have too many beds at a family beach house? A reno retains the character of this beloved beach house but maximises flexibility.

This stunning modern Australian beach house has a whole wall of glass, taking in spectacular views of the beach and headland beyond.

A new asymmetrical frame encloses the original shack, wrapping new living areas all around to take advantage of the views.

Running the two homes perpendicular to the street allows this dual occupancy design to maximise views and maintain privacy.

This laid back holiday home is tough enough to cope with the kids yet luxurious: the perfect escape to create lifetime memories.

A private, yet light-filled coastal home is the perfect fit for a retired couple, with plenty of room for visitors.

This environmentally-considerate home is carefully planned to ensure it's compact yet spacious: the least house necessary.

This tropical home locks down when it's not being used, but when it's open, it embraces the natural landscape in every direction...

The clever design for this challenging site allows the home to deal with the threat of bushfire, while still taking in the views.

A creative design for two new townhouses defies many of the qualities of these types of developments to create bright and breezy homes.

With an incredible site just one street from the beach and close to the city, these architects built their ideal family home.

A modern beach house design replaces the ageing cottage on a property that has been in the family for over 50 years.

Friends said they were brave to buy their home. But who's laughing now after a breezy makeover transforms this 1970s hot mess.

The careful siting of this new home helps it take full advantage of the sun and embrace a beautiful, bushy site.

Living near the beach has its pros and cons. A great beach house needs to embrace the sunshine while protecting from cold ocean winds.

Sub-tropical climates require a special approach to design to ensure they are comfortable in the sticky summers and the cool winters.

A house that was once a post office felt frustratingly disconnected from the outdoors has been transformed into a breezy beach house.

This home holds special memories for the architect, Pat Jost, making it important to retain the elements that fill it with character.

A decked courtyard connects this existing home and extension, providing light, breezes and an indoor-outdoor connection to old and new.

We take a step back in time to find five homes which celebrate the beach shacks of the past by cladding themselves in fibre cement.

Beachside towns were once dotted with simple fibro beach shacks. This modern home reinterprets that classic style.

Light and dark, east and west, new and old, Dark Light House's new living pavilion contrasts without simply doing the opposite.

We're all a little bit obsessed with shipping container houses. You'll understand why once you take a look at this home...

After the bushfire of 2015, Wye River slowly rebuilds. Let's hope all the new homes are as beautiful and sympathetic as this one...

Clever thinking achieves a simple timber beach house the client desired while still meeting bushfire and energy efficiency regulations.

Sometimes people are dicks. Escape and Thoreau yourself into this collection of Australia's best huts, shacks, cabins and retreats...

Precast concrete and timber combine to create a low-maintenance home that will get better with age.

As Torquay becomes increasingly cosmopolitan with more permanent residents architects are rethinking the traditional Aussie beach house.

Just a short walk from the beach and surrounded by Moona trees, a central courtyard is the link between this home and the landscape.

"There are too many beautiful old shacks being demolished, and Austin Maynard Architects won’t be part of it."

These two homes are built on a pier structure that highlights their unique creek-side location near the Mornington foreshore.

Inspired by Mid-century design with a touch of Aussie shed, this stylish shack is the perfect combination of cool and practical.

A home set in an expansive garden is divided and sheltered into quadrants by cross-shaped Gabion baskets, creating a variety of spaces.

Renovation uses half of the original roof structure to create a new raked roof and wraps the original fibro shack in new cladding.

If you want the look and feel of luxury at your home, it pays to think a bit smaller and pay attention to the details.

With sliding doors and a fold down bed, a rumpus room/third bedroom provides built in flexibility while reducing the overall footprint.

Waitpinga Retreat designed as a casual getaway immersed in the natural beauty of nature looks and feels very Australian.

When this couple retired the farm they wanted a more manageable and contemporary home that incorporated memories of their past life.

This robust home for a family of six will be knocked about by the young family and accumulate character through the passage of time.

A 1970s-era weatherboard holiday house gets a serious revamp to make it perfect for Grandparents' retired living.

This two storey house near the beach was designed like an arrangement of stacked boxes to create protected balconies and decks.

With a green roof and other sustainable elements this beach-side residence touches the earth lightly physically and metaphorically.

The curse of the modern open-plan home? Noise. With flexible social spaces, parents in this house can entertain separately to the kids.

This extension continues a tradition of relaxed, colourful and small-scaled modifications which have been occurring for generations.

A warm new home for a young family wraps around a courtyard space to create a protected area for the kids to play and the family to enjoy the stunning ocean views.

Small in both budget and footprint, but clever thinking and innovative solutions have produced a home which ticks all the boxes...

A heritage-listed chicory kiln on Phillip Island is transformed into a delightfully playful residence for a couple.

The use of up to 75 per cent recycled timber as structure and cladding brings warmth and variety to this modern beach house.

Sweeping views of hills, beach, rocks and ocean inspired the fan shaped plan of Fleurieu Beach House - a model for coastal living.

With a fun colour scheme, humble materials and nooks to while away the day, Field Way Bach reminds us of back-to-basics beach holidays.