Balmy Palmy House is a house located in Sydney, Australia. Designed in 2021 by CplusC Architects + Builders, it embodies an innovative and humble architectural style. The project description celebrates the pleasures of modesty and the simple life…
Ascending the stone stairs, the two-bedroom, one-bathroom home floats above. The spiral staircase takes you into a secluded open-air space suffused with light, leaves and birdsong. Glimpses of beach, jetty and Pittwater village shift behind foliage. Rooms are stacked along the outward-looking building, connected by extensive outdoor decking. You’re in nature whenever you leave a room – or lie in the cargo net bay.
With a tight budget, CplusC’s vision was for a humble house receptive to the landscape. The site was challenging with no stable subsoil and many mature and protected trees. So we chose to plant the house proudly on bored concrete piers, avoiding tree lopping, excavation, rock sawing and retaining walls. An innovative prefabricated system was used to reduce complexity and cost. The build was a bit like assembling a Meccano set. This enabled us to concentrate the small budget on quality materials and detailing.
CplusC designed and built Balmy Palmy House with the regenerative design approach the firm is known for. The house has low embodied energy thanks to the decision not to excavate and a low-waste approach. The ‘Meccano set’ design had a multiplier effect, minimising steel in favour of timber and reducing construction time, site visits and cost.
