Luigi Rosselli Architects

Bondi Bombora House

Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe

BONDI COMBORA HOUSE

Luigi Rosselli

ARCHITECTS
Luigi Rosselli

PHOTOGRAPHS
Prue Ruscoe

STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT
Geoff Ninnes Fong & Partners Pty Ltd

PROJECT ARCHITECTS
Sean Johnson, Diana Yang

JOINER
BWO Fitout and Interiors

MANUFACTURERS
Evolution Windows

AREA
265 m²

LANDSCAPE
Bates Landscape

INTERIOR DESIGNER
Alwill Interiors

BUILDER
Building With Options Pty Ltd

DESIGN ARCHITECT
Luigi Rosselli

CATEGORY
Houses

YEAR
2020

LOCATION
Bondi, Australia

Text description provided by architect.

A “Bombora” is an indigenous Australian term, possibly with its origin in the ‘Dharuk’ language spoken in the Sydney region, to describe a wave breaking over a shallow reef or sandbank that has been adopted into Australian surf culture.

Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe

This dwelling house, built in a mixed and densely packed street located just a stone’s throw from the Bondi Beach is an homage to that surfers’ haven; to the swell and the waves that have formed a rich intertidal culture for millennia.

The three-story home, with accommodation for a tribe of three generations, and a menagerie of dogs, cats and chickens, is compressed into a compact site.

Its wavy frontage forms an open arm to embrace the central entrance, and with no space for a veranda or portico, a steel hood shades the front door, reached by a fluid path and entry steps.

Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe

The building’s base is clad with blue and jade herringbone mosaic tiles, which shimmer and undulate in the daylight like the surface of the ocean.

The main floor, painted in a pale blue shade, is a kind of ‘piano nobile’: the first floor of a Renaissance residence.

Dedicated to its ‘noble’ owners, it was usually the floor with the highest ceilings and was elevated sufficiently to sequester the residents away from the grime and smell of the street below.

Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe

Crowning the three levels is the metal-clad bedroom level, set back from the street front and awaiting some cascading trailing plants to soften the armoured ‘battleship’ appearance of the metallic façade.

Landscaper, Michael Bates planted as many edible fruit trees as he could fit into the bikini sized residual garden areas: olive trees to the front, lilly pilly and guava to the rear; and the client has installed beehives and planted all the bees favoured flowers in the nooks and crannies.

Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe

Interior Designer, Romaine Alwill, and Project Architect, Diana Yang have utilised ever millimetre of space to provide storage and create a practical flow for human and object interaction: the dining room credenza becomes the kids’ homework area, the powder room borrows light from the adjoining bathroom through a mirror and glass partition! The stairwell becomes a library, and sitting on the library bay window seat, one can drop their half-read book, gaze out of the window, and dream of coastlines, beaches, and bomboras in Bondi.


Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe
Bondi Bombora House
© Prue Ruscoe


Bondi Bombora House
Ground floor plan
Bondi Bombora House
Garage floor plan


Bondi Bombora House
First floor plan
Bondi Bombora House
Sketch

Luigi Rosselli Architects
T +61 2 92811498
Luigi Rosselli Architects
122 Buckingham St, Surry Hills NSW 2010, Australia