EXTENSION OF A LEGACY
SUNRISE BEACH SHACK BY FRANK MACCHIA
STYLING Shackpalace
DESIGNED BY Frank Macchia
PHOTOGRAPHY Kelli Jean Black
WORDS Bronwyn Marshall
From a process of reduction and recreation, Sunrise Beach Shack reconsiders what it is that makes a house a home. Frank Macchia draws on an honest and texturally deep approach to materiality in envisioning the coastal abode as an shelter experience of shelter.
Nestled into the lush greenery of Noosa, Sunrise Beach Shack is a full embrace of its location. The typical bounding edges of the home that define spaces have been reimagined to encourage a natural flow between inside and out and allow the removal of thresholds. With an emphasis on how the home needed to feel, the footprint is decidedly reduced and instead, the defining factor is how the design acts as a reflection of its owners. Frank Macchia combines custom joinery together with raw and honest materiality that reflects the handmade and celebrates its craft. Through a process of stripping the unnecessary, Frank Macchia has created a home of engrained meaning, deeply connected to both its site and clients.
Almost in defiance of its neighbouring properties and their crisp factory sharp finishes, Sunrise Beach Shack is a return to base principles, where the handmade, the rugged and the textured is heralded above all else.
Almost in defiance of its neighbouring properties and their crisp, factory-sharp finishes, Sunrise Beach Shack is a return to base principles, where the handmade, the rugged and the textured are heralded above all else. The use of bold dark tonality throughout intercepts with natural light as a heightened experience through contrast. The play on light and shade, as the sun moves through the home during the day and shifts its position throughout the year, allows for a constantly shifting interactive element to animate the internal spaces.
Sustainable design principles were foundational to the project. The reduction of the overall footprint and the stripping of the unnecessary allows for a lesser impact on the earth and encourages a respectful co-existence with it. The select materiality also reflects a connection to ageing gracefully, celebrating patina instead of the mentality that sees many homes replaced, their parts adding to landfill as a result. As a home that stands the test of time, rather than responding to the vagaries of fashion, the focus on quality and robust materials ensures the resulting spaces are suitable to their context and will remain largely unaltered. The rejection of precision from machined elements and junctions then creates an opportunity for hand-crafted details to emerge, and the result adds textual nuance to an already detailed and interesting home.
The use of bold dark tonality throughout intercepts with natural light as a heightened experience through contrast.
Sunrise Beach Shack offers itself as a refreshing take on the coastal abode and boldly brings together rectilinear volumes that allow for cross-pollination of function, reducing the required footprint. Through a sustainable lens, Franck Macchia has created a responsible and responsive home that, through its deliberately robust and enduring parts, sits fittingly in its location and as a clear representation of its owners.