Cobbadah Beach House is a home for a recently retired couple located at Tugun, a laid-back surf beach on the Gold Coast in southern Queensland. The house is located on the ridge of a densely vegetated bluff above a beach, with panoramic views to South Stradbroke Island to the north and Coolangatta headland to the south.

The clients had owned a charming but dilapidated holiday cottage on the site for more than twenty years, but the building was in a state of disrepair and the clients commissioned a new house to be built as a place to create memories with their adult children and grandchildren. This new home would be their permanent address and would need to meet the requirements of aging in place.

The existing landscape was a key element in the design, and the dense jungle-like quality of the surrounding vegetation informed the deep greens, rich browns, brass and granite textures that are threaded throughout the house. A cluster of mature palm trees defines the ocean-facing front of the house, and these were carefully preserved so that the trees rise through the deck, and views from the house to the ocean are framed by layers of vegetation.

The site has views in three directions, but also has neighbours close by on three sides, so the arrangement of spaces and windows was carefully crafted to guide the eye to focal points on the horizon, as well as looking inward to a double volume courtyard garden clad in green wall tiles. The clients have a substantial art collection, and from the beginning of concept design the building was designed around the location of significant paintings and sculptures to optimise sightlines and lighting.