Curl Curl House

2022 National Architecture Awards: National Award for Residential Architecture - Houses (New)

Curl Curl House | TRIAS

Traditional Land Owners: The Garigal or Caregal people of the Guringai nation

Curl Curl House was designed for an introverted family, who sought a home that would feel protective, reclusive, and quiet.

The project was inspired by time spent in Mexico. There, we were drawn to an urban condition where houses were hidden behind walls, creating private oases within.

Curl Curl House is a walled garden house that feels calm, confident, and quiet. Its twin sentinels peer above their fence line, partly visible between green.
The house is composed of two brick towers, linked by a pavilion. Thickened brick walls evoke solidity and heft.

Our sustainability approach focused on longevity and achieving carbon neutral operations. The home is all electric; its hydronics, heating and cooling and hot water are all solar-powered.

Curl Curl House elegantly reconciles two common contexts found in Sydney: the brick suburbs and the coast. The result is a relaxed yet ambitious work of architecture that aspires to timelessness.

JURY CITATION

Part of a growing lineage of projects produced by Trias that carefully explore questions of domesticity and materiality, Curl Curl House is a further study in rigorous civic strategy and craft. Generated by the nature of its corner site, the structure of the plan is bracketed by two brick “towers” that hold the communal realm of the house in relation to the garden and its wider context.

This strategy is fundamentally a diagram of togetherness, where the life of a family, and its personal and public needs, are scaffolded by a carefully ordered plan. Exemplary in its tectonic resolution, Curl Curl House prioritizes longevity and durability. Deep reveals and screened thresholds are ingeniously located to provide depth for shading, joinery and occupation. Hardwood is used to elongate thresholds and brass channels are carefully delineated to control the patina of weathering over time.

The jury was impressed by the strong environmental goals of the project, which enrich the poetic aspirations of the architectural outcome. The calm internal atmosphere of the house is understated and marvellously calibrated. The interior offers both a domestic realm grounded by communal life and spaces of deep solace.

Client perspective:
How does the design benefit the way you live/work/play/operate/educate/other?

The two living towers each look onto a central entertaining area which affords our children the independence and privacy they increasingly desire and gives us the comfort of knowing they are never too far away. A home that will age well with our family. Each of us have dedicated working spaces and additional areas where the children can collaborate and be creative. The home strikes an ideal balance between internal living space and outdoor living areas for entertaining, reading, gardening and relaxing. The design maximises privacy and capitalises on the beauty of the native tree surrounds. An urban paradise.