NEW WAVE: THE EVOLUTION OF AUSTRALIA’S COASTAL LUXURY
From the shacks of yesterday to the sculptural sanctuaries of today, Australia’s coastal architecture has matured into a global benchmark for design.
4 min
In the land down under, the beach is in our DNA. So is it any wonder that Australian architecture is leading the world in luxury coastal design?
With about 85 per cent of our population living within 50 kilometres of the coastline, we’ve perfected the art of the beach house. Yet over the past two decades, there’s been a sophisticated shift in the traditional coastal cottage.
The residential revolution that has washed over our most valuable waterfront locations has replaced the original weatherboard “shacks” by the sea with a contemporary design movement shaped by admiration and respect for the natural environment.
No longer simply about the view, today’s coastal architecture is about creating beautiful homes that perform seamlessly in an increasingly volatile climate while meeting the rising tide of high-net-worth buyers who want it all.
From infinity pools to wellbeing spaces that connect with nature, one-time weekenders have been transformed into permanent escapes, providing year-round indulgence.
An island home
Belgian-born, Tasmania-based architect Lara Maeseele believes the quintessential coastal home has become a finely tuned instrument. With more vacant land to experiment with, and lower entry prices, she says the Apple Isle is perfectly placed for architects and homeowners to explore the new-age beach house.
“A highlight in Tassie is you can find these amazing vacant blocks on the coastline, and still be blown away by the unexpected views,” she says.
Having studied in Belgium and worked in London, Maeseele brings a northern European minimalist sensibility to the Australian beach house.
“Our way of life is so complex. When we get home, it’s nice to slow down, to declutter and find some peace and quiet.”
Nebraska House on Bruny Island took home the 2025 HIA Tasmanian Home of the Year and earned a commendation at the Houses Awards, but Maeseele still affectionately refers to her design overlooking the D’Entrecasteaux Channel as a “shack.”
“What we tried to do was make sure that from the foreshore, it was kept small and consistent with the neighbouring properties, and that’s the luxury element that I see in the shack. It sits quietly in its setting.”
With a water backdrop from most rooms, she says the ocean was a primary player when designing the house, but light was just as important for the clients.
“Both the western and eastern elevations slide wide open so it feels like a bit of an umbrella,” she says. “Then in winter, it’s fully insulated and glazed. When the sun sets, you have the most beautiful evenings, feeling cosy and sheltered while watching the wind and water outside.”
True to her European roots, Maeseele believes that when it comes to aesthetically pleasing and functional coastal design, the less-is-more approach should drive every project.
“We’re on an island, so we’re very aware any build leaves an impact,” she says. “We chose lightweight materials so, in the end, the house could be dismantled and the timber reused.”
Thriving by the sea
Sydney architect Jon King, who has designed both beach houses and boutique hotels, says the new generation of coastal design is a balancing act between luxury and environment.
Even in today’s dazzling designs, he believes comfort should still overshadow spectacle.
“If you’re going to make an exceptional beach house, it has to adapt. It needs to be beautiful when the sun is shining and the whales are jumping out of the water, but the next day it needs to withstand horrendous southerlies and wild storms,” he says.
“The material choices are vital because they need to look great, but last in that salty environment and in extreme winds and rain.”
What was once the domain of fibro cottages has developed into a sea of enviable, state-of-the-art designs.
“For a long time, we lived simply in beach environments because the land was cheap and our buildings were unsophisticated. But now, living on the coast has become coveted, even fetishised. People are making statements through architecture, and that changes everything.”
He says that in an effort to connect with nature, the temptation can be to build with vast walls of glass to capture the ultimate panorama, but subtle design can be more successful when it gives the dramatic backdrop a curated cameo.
“Most coastal locations are suburban in nature with small blocks and neighbours either side, so you can’t always get the view you want,” he says.
“But you can frame it beautifully rather than opening everything up to the elements.”
Cheyne Fox of White Fox Gold Coast, who has recently listed one of only two houses on Hayman Island in the Whitsundays, agrees that Australia’s coastal homes are unparalleled.
“Gone are the days when people wanted their properties to stand out and look at odds with the surrounds. Today’s luxury designs are very much about fitting in,” Fox says.
The Residence at Hayman spans three levels and offers more than 1,400 square metres of internal and external living space.
Designed by the late, internationally renowned architect Kerry Hill, it also features breezeways, terraces and an infinity pool designed to embrace the subtropical environment.
“When you get to Hayman Island, you get calico bags. There are no plastic bottles or even cars. There is a true respect for the environment, being so close to the Great Barrier Reef. And as such, the architecture reflects that ethos.”
She says high-net-worth buyers will pay top dollar for such indulgent and considered coastal designs.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime proposition for a purchaser, but also a once-in-a-lifetime proposition for an agent.”
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A historic Barbados estate with a 300-year-old villa and 11 acres overlooking the Caribbean Sea is now for sale with a guide price of $22.5 million.
The seller is Kit Braden, chairman of the U.K. branch of French beauty empire L’Occitane Group, whose family has spent every winter for the last 13 years at the island property, known as Fustic Estate.
“It’s very much a family house,” Braden said. “We love having a lot of people there. It’s a collection point to keep everyone together.”
The main villa dates to 1712, though it’s been reimagined and expanded substantially over the years.
It spans 13,000 square feet and features seven en suite bedrooms across three wings, as well as expansive verandas, stone courtyards and rows of louvered doors in gay Caribbean pastels.
In the 1970s, when the home was owned by Charles Graves—brother of British poet Robert Graves—it was reimagined by stage designer Oliver Messel, one of the foremost theater designers of the last century. Messel expanded the home, added a lagoon pool with a natural waterfall and other theatrical features, according to Braden.
“The whole place is a little bit magical,” he said.
The home sits about 350 feet above the water, and surrounded by lush gardens that slope towards the water.
“We look down through our garden—which is about 12 acres of tropical gardens and palm trees and wonderful old mahogany trees—onto the Caribbean,” Braden said.
He and his wife first saw the property on New Year’s Eve 2013, during a quick trip from where they were staying in Grenada.
The couple spent an hour walking the perimeter, some of it still untouched jungle, in the pouring rain.
“By the time we got back, I had fallen in love with it,” Braden said.
His wife, however, wasn’t so sure. But in Braden’s telling, a second visit in sunnier weather with two of their children brought her around.
“She had to be talked into that it was a jolly good idea; now she absolutely loves it,” he said.
When they bought the property, the edge that runs along the waterfront was a jungle, so they cleared the ridge and transformed it into gardens.
They also bought an additional sea-level parcel with two beach cottages, giving the property direct access to the water and the town below via a five-minute walk.
The property also has a 15-person staff, a reflecting pond, an outdoor pavilion suitable for yoga and a commercial grade kitchen that can serve more than 100 guests, according to a brochure from Knight Frank, which posted the listing in March. They did not provide further comment.
For Braden, the property is special because of its natural beauty, its proximity to the town of Saint Lucy and its history—which dates way way back to when the island of Barbados was first formed via tectonic activity.
“It was basically tectonic plates that collided about a million years ago so the seabed is the top of the hill,” Braden said. “We’re on coral rock.”
As a result, Fustic Estate includes an extensive network of caves that were likely used by the Arawaks, a Venezuelan fishing tribe that followed the fish to these islands about a thousand years ago.
“If the fish were good they’d camp here,” Braden said. “There’s evidence that they stayed there in those caves, they lived there in good winters.”
Now it’s someone else’s turn to live on the land shared by Arawaks, the plantation owners of 1712, Charles Graves and the Braden brood.
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