Swell and High Swell stepping down a bush hillside at Palm Beach, glass pavilions above a sandstone pool terrace

Swell & High Swell, Palm Beach

These properties are neighbours on the same Palm Beach site, built in stages for a repeat client whose previous home FS Hough had also built.

It's a home shaped by its hillside as much as by any drawing: natural sandstone anchoring both buildings into the rock itself, curved steel beams and columns built to stand up to coastal winds, and timber panelling chosen to silver and weather naturally in the salt air, so that both buildings feel less like they were placed on the site and more like they grew out of it.

Details
Site Area SQM
992
Bedrooms
6
Bathrooms
6
Parking
4
Year Completed
2024
Sculptural bird artworks on a white wall beneath a timber ceiling
Pool terrace with loungers overlooking the beach at Palm Beach
Mosaic tiled shower with a round porthole window to the sea
Kitchen island with timber cabinetry and glass walls to the ocean
Covered outdoor dining terrace with a timber ceiling and sandstone steps
Covered terrace with a daybed and outdoor kitchen against the sandstone cliff
Window seat with dark green cushions and a marble table, the ocean beyond
Sandstone bathroom with a freestanding bath and a window to the ocean

Getting there took real ingenuity. With no crane access, every material and piece of equipment had to be carried down onto site by hand, and a four-station cable car was installed just to manage the climb up and down the slope. Sandstone was quarried directly out of the hill to make way for the build, then reused to help form the structure itself and the garden walling beyond. In one of the project's most demanding sequences, the team bolted a rock face back into the hill and dug beneath it to excavate a studio space that now sits tucked under that same stone.

High Swell began as a small pavilion nestled into the sandstone outcrops. Swell followed, reinforcing the home's curved steel beams to remove columns from the living room and open the space right up, with a generous kitchen overlooking the long horizon and coastal touches like the powder rooms' porthole view of the water. Together they stand as one of FS Hough's most technically demanding, and most beautiful and unique, coastal builds.

Living room with a timber ceiling and cabinetry opening to the ocean view
Freestanding bath in a sandstone bathroom with a window to the sea
Dining area opening onto a balcony above the beach
Lawn terrace with a lounger, outdoor dining and a sandstone outcrop
Covered deck with lounges and a fire table facing the ocean
Kitchen and living room with a timber ceiling opening to the deck
Bedroom with built in joinery and a glass wall to the ocean
Covered deck with a fire table and lounges, Palm Beach below
Glass fronted pavilion cantilevered above the bush at Palm Beach
Bathroom with a freestanding bath and shower beside a bedroom
Collaborators
  • Architecture by MacCormick Architects
  • Landscape Architecture by Volker Klemm Landscape Design
  • Structural Engineering by Partridge Structural Pty Ltd
  • Geotechnical Engineering by Crozier Geotechnical Consultants
Dining table with a carved timber vessel and ocean views at Swell and High Swell
FS Hough