Australian architecture firm Nick Kent Design has completed a striking two-story residential project near Sydney's famous Bondi Beach, featuring an innovative steel-framed structure designed as a modular 'kit of parts.' The minimalist home showcases translucent polycarbonate screens and metal louvers that create dynamic patterns of light and shadow throughout the interior spaces.
The Bondi House replaces a derelict building on a long, narrow plot close to Bondi Beach. The two-bedroom dwelling features a lightweight steel frame painted white and clad in a sophisticated combination of translucent and reflective surfaces. This innovative structural approach means both internal and external walls are non-load-bearing, allowing the home to be easily reconfigured in the future or adapted as a prototype for different sites.
'We deliberately constrained ourselves with a limited kit of parts that were used repetitively throughout the building to create as rich an experience as possible,' studio founder Nick Kent explained. 'Materials suited to the play of light and shadows – a combination of transparent, translucent and reflective surfaces – mediate and engage with the site's natural environment, while achieving privacy from adjacent neighbors.'
Taking advantage of the plot's depth, the architects positioned the house with setbacks at both front and rear, creating a buffer from the busy street while maximizing space for a rear garden planted with indigenous Australian species. Behind a frontage of stainless steel garage doors, visitors enter through a corridor that passes a bathroom before reaching the central living room, which is dramatically illuminated by a wall of translucent polycarbonate and overlooked by an elegant white-steel staircase.
The adjacent kitchen and dining area continues the material palette, featuring the same polycarbonate panels behind metal kitchen counters. Floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors in the corner provide direct access to the rear garden. External roller blinds offer additional shading for the ground floor when needed, while the first-floor bedrooms are wrapped in adjustable aluminum louvers that provide both privacy and climate control.
A skylit hallway on the upper level leads to the front of the house, where a study space extends into a projecting balcony overlooking the street. This distinctive feature is finished with a metal grille floor and ceiling and wrapped in lightweight mesh screens, creating an engaging relationship with the streetscape while maintaining privacy.
While the home's palette is predominantly defined by various metals, Nick Kent Design added visual warmth through carefully selected granite details and oak paneling and storage elements, particularly in the living and bedroom areas. The kitchen features metal counters complemented by oak joinery that softens the industrial aesthetic.
'There is an aesthetic continuity from the external expression through to the interiors, down to the fittings and furniture – primarily with concrete, stainless steel, anodized aluminum, glass, polycarbonate,' Kent noted. 'Contrasting natural and colored elements were introduced to the spaces to bring softer textures and warmth.'
The project represents a thoughtful approach to contemporary Australian residential design, balancing the harsh coastal environment with the need for privacy and comfort. The modular construction method demonstrates how innovative structural systems can create flexible, sustainable housing solutions that respond to both site-specific conditions and broader housing challenges. Photography for the project was captured by Tom Ross, documenting how the interplay of materials creates ever-changing lighting conditions throughout the day.
