Video Tour Through Casey Brown’s Bangalley House in Avalon.

Perched on a rising monolithic headland of sandstone and shale, Bangalley is a remarkable home inspired by its arresting location. Jutting out into the Pacific Ocean in Sydney’s Northern Beaches suburb of Avalon, Casey Brown Architecture designed the house to respond to the dramatic environment with a rustic rugged exterior and a raw but highly crafted interior.

In this video created in partnership with Brickworks, Tim Ross meets with Sydney architect, Rob Brown, to tour Bangalley, which has been conceived as an homage to the beauty of bricks.

Related: Take a Video Tour Through La Scala, Richards & Spence’s own Brisbane Home.

Casey Brown designed the home for a couple of journalist empty nesters who asked the architects to “do the site justice; be part of nature and to last 100 years.” They set out on a rigorous design process which resulted in a topographical response that gave rise to a series of steeped, staggered and linked pavilions set carefully amongst the boulders and twisted tea trees strewn over the headland.

When looking at the resulting house from the beach, Rob Brown likens it to its natural surroundings. “I see the copper roof mellowing into the deep red, the bricks absolutely blending with the big, enormous sandstone pebbles and the cliff below – I think the house is doing everything that it was always intending to do,” he says.

The brief called for a home that was robust and raw. Brown explains he understood from the client, who had lived in the same spot for over 20 years – the site came under extreme weather conditions from salt, spray, storms, rain and wind. “That battering required a pretty robust material,” he says. “A very well fired brick, a brick that was not going to erode through wind or salt erosion… So, we’ve got reds and whites and greys all mixed in together, to satisfy that brief of matching the local rock.”

Central to the house is a finely crafted floating concrete stair connecting the levels featuring a brass sculptured screen by Caroline Casey who was also responsible for all the highly resolved and detailed joinery and furnishings. Casey was focussed on bringing warmth and comfort to the interior via the use of timber, textiles and brass details.

The house itself is constructed from brick both inside and out. The exterior features 500×40 Austral Bricks’ premium San Selmo Corso range in brown, red and grey to blend with the weathered sandstone surrounds. Meanwhile, white bricks from the same collection are used internally, creating an ever-changing play of patterns and light as the sun moves around the building.

“Every part of the day or the season, the bricks tell a different story, and that’s a pretty unique product,” says Brown. “As long as the light is on the brick, the brick tells a beautiful story.”

Related: Bricks Decoded: Knockout Brick Houses.

This Yellowtrace Promotion is proudly created in partnership with Brickworks. All related thoughts and ideas reflect our genuine opinion. Like everything we do at Yellowtrace, our sponsored content is carefully curated to maintain utmost relevance to our readers.

[Images & video courtesy of Brickworks. Photography by Michael Nicholson.]