How Brutalism Shapes This Chic Australian Home

2024 Best of Year Winner for Medium Country House

Set on a grassy knoll with distant views over Bass Strait, this 8,100-square-foot, two-level beach house in Sorrento, Australia, uses board-formed concrete with a virtuosic ease that the masters of European and Brazilian brutalism might envy. Partially embedded in the hillock, the podium base contains guest accommodations, recreational spaces, and a cast-concrete staircase that spirals upward like a pleated ribbon to the main living quarters above. Upstairs, architect Travis Walton broadens the material palette: stained-oak paneling in some rooms; a blackened-steel media wall in the living area; and patinated-brass cabinetry, a black marble backsplash, and a dark-green stone island in the kitchen. Designer Simone Haag has furnished the light-filled interiors with a treasure trove of contemporary production and craft pieces, including Patricia Urquiola chairs surrounding a marble-topped dining table designed by the homeowner.

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