“The design of this project was guided by two core principles: a thoughtful response to the environment and a pursuit of elegant simplicity,” explains Dan Webster, director of the eponymous design practice. Webster describes a client brief underpinned by the desire to intimately integrate architecture with the landscape, weaving gardenscapes and courtyards into the fabric of the building. “Simultaneously, we aimed to maximise transparency to capture the panoramic views,” he says. Placed at a natural crest of the hill, Pippins claims a vantage point that affords unobstructed views to the ocean beyond. The challenge of the design strategy, however, was to maximise the expansive views but to also protect the house from the powerful prevailing winds that roar up the hillside.

The subsequent design response manifests as two long intersecting blocks, between which are several pockets of space that host courtyards sheltered from the unforgiving winds. The decision to occupy the site with this plan was informed, in part, by the client’s desire to have a single-storey home. Pippins is divided into four distinct zones distributed across the arms of an X-shaped floor plan and assigned with clear occupation and flexible function. Various spaces for entertaining are utilised at key moments to separate guest bedrooms from the generous main suite. From the main pavilion, uninterrupted views foster a sense of unbroken connection to the outside environment. At the fulcrum of Pippins’ intersecting spaces, a generous entry hall presents a curated view to the landscape beyond as a breathtaking moment of arrival into the home.