Sun Seeker

With its mesmerising views, premier bayside position and stylish new fitout, this Portsea house has it all.

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An early 80s house in Portsea was in need of a freshen up and David Hicks was just the designer for the job. How did you become involved with this project and what was the brief? We had previously designed a house and undertaken decorative work for the client in Melbourne and developed a great working relationship. The client wanted to refurbish and extend their existing house in Portsea. What were the challenges of the site? As the house is located on the edge of a cliff, hovering above the ocean at the end of a large, long and narrow block we had to be careful about changing the footprint. To demolish and rebuild would mean losing the valued area the house takes up on the block due to changed council building regulations. Instead we decided to keep the ground-floor slab and demolish everything except for the two front walls and the garage. What do you consider when designing for a coastal setting? As the house is in close proximity to the ocean we had to be considerate of external materials suc