1995 De Crespigny Sea Residence

In this sea residence, "function follows form". The verticality of the roofscape was adopted as mimesis of the dense eucalyptus forest. The white colour was selected as the assertive confrontation with some of the surrounding urban-like development. The architecture is expressed as a transparent revelation of the habitat, as the experience of the bush setting, of the sea visual presence through the carving of internal walls and of the motion of light through carefully designed openings.

Royal Australian Institute of Architects

Jury award citation

Everywhere, the whiteness of the materials acts as a foil, an assertive contrast to the surroundings. Always, there is the surprise, the framing of a flower or a tree through an opening. The mutually agreed brief was to emphasize living more than rationality, logos as an essential principle, more than knowledge. As a consequence the spaces do not follow a pattern of established functionality. They seek and therefore reveal interlaced experiences.

Excerpt from 1966 Architecture Awards, RAIA ACT Chapter

During the seventies, his design for schools exploited the properties of concrete to creative inventive spaces, and his award-winning Sea Residence (1996) in Lilli Pilli, NSW, shows his passion for the plasticity of form had not waned.

Excerpt from 70/80/90 Iconic Australian Houses

Karen McCartney

photos : © et

client: Dr & Mrs R. De Crespigny

engineers: K. Sellick

contractor: Davin Constructions

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