Hawthorne Residence

Hawthorne Residence

Ocean Reef, Perth, Western Australia

TL;DR

The Hawthorne Residence is a contemporary family home that responds to one of the defining challenges of Western Australian residential design: capturing western ocean views without compromising environmental performance. While technically an addition, the project effectively reimagines the site, retaining only the existing garage and replacing the remainder with a highly considered architectural response.

Organised around a T-shaped plan, the residence separates family life into distinct zones while creating strong connections between internal living spaces, the swimming pool and outdoor entertaining areas. Deeply recessed openings, cantilevered forms and substantial overhangs help manage western solar exposure, while a rooftop terrace captures elevated ocean views without exceeding height restrictions. The result is a contemporary home where planning, climate response and architectural form are given equal importance.

Planning for Family Life

The residence adopts a T-shaped plan that responds closely to both family life and the geometry of the site.

Dedicated wings provide separation between living, sleeping and activity spaces, creating privacy while maintaining strong connections throughout the home. As with many Superseed projects, the organisation of the house is driven by planning first, ensuring the home remains highly functional and adaptable over time.

Building for Views and Climate

Capturing ocean views often means orientating towards the west, creating a direct tension between outlook and environmental performance.

The residence responds through deeply recessed openings, projecting upper-floor forms and carefully specified glazing that provide integrated solar protection while preserving views towards the coast. A rooftop terrace extends this relationship with the landscape, allowing occupants to experience elevated ocean views and coastal sunsets without requiring additional building height.

Together, these moves unlock long-range outlooks while maintaining strong environmental performance throughout the home.

Courtyard, Pool and Community

The upper floor cantilevers above the pool and outdoor entertaining areas, generating substantial covered space through the building form itself rather than additional shade structures.

Beyond creating comfortable outdoor environments, this gesture also reduces the visual impact of the residence and helps preserve aspects of neighbouring outlooks. It is a subtle move, but one that reflects a broader consideration of context, community and shared amenity.

The result is an outdoor environment that feels generous, protected and carefully integrated with the surrounding neighbourhood.

Materiality and Form

A bagged-brick ground floor forms a robust plinth from which lighter upper volumes emerge.

Feature plaster blade walls, timber cladding and carefully articulated screening elements soften the mass of the building while introducing rhythm and depth to the façades. Internally, exposed concrete soffits, timber finishes, white walls and dark-framed glazing establish a restrained material palette that feels durable, warm and timeless.

This layered composition reinforces the architectural clarity of the residence while providing significant opportunities for integrated solar shading.

Architecture Through Restraint

The Hawthorne Residence demonstrates how strong architectural ideas can shape even highly amenity-rich homes.

Ocean views, a rooftop terrace, swimming pool and generous accommodation are all present, yet the success of the project lies in its planning, environmental performance and careful response to site. The result is a contemporary family home that balances lifestyle, climate responsiveness and architectural integrity in equal measure.