The owners are fantastic clients. They had this amazing site. Lean over the back fence and you can look 80 metres down into the ocean.

They wanted an open and airy house that takes advantage of the location but also gives enough shelter. You can have a house that’s open but doesn’t give much shelter. If a house shelters you too much, you can’t really enjoy the setting. It was about finding the balance.

The orientation is important. The block faces east but the sun mainly comes from the north. In winter you want to harvest the sun but in summer you want to block it out. A rectangular shape would have been a problem for floorspace ratio so I created a waistline at the centre point, a cut-out section which helps to get light and air in. There are some pivoting doors there that can be opened on both sides which allow for a constant breeze.

When it comes to selecting a builder, normally I go through a tender process. I had met and spoken to John Fielding about various jobs before but had never built with Bellevarde. Some builders can be a bit vague about the actual costs but Bellevarde are very up front and organised in that regard. That’s one of their greatest assets. And they are by far the most organised I had ever come across in terms of paperwork. It was important to the owners that they could see value for money. Bellevarde’s costing made it clear to see that we would get what we wanted so we went with them and we’re glad we did.

The DA went through quickly and smoothly. Then the biggest part of the process begins—the documentation. My job is to consider every little detail. Thinking about it is one thing but getting it realised and actually built, or ideally even improved upon, is another. That’s where Bellevarde’s site manager Daniele Feltracco comes in.

Because I’ve been doing this for a while and because I’m quite technically minded, I usually end up telling the builder how to do things but Daniele is also very experienced and he has an architectural background. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He is one of those traditional site managers that takes the set of drawings and spends many hours and days just working through them. He has the understanding and experience to know what is desired but also to find potential flaws, points where he thinks something doesn’t quite work. Like me, he has some strong opinions but there was never any clashing, it was always positive. The process was always improved by the collaboration. I appreciated his input very much. Overall, Daniele was immensely dedicated to understanding what I wanted. Along the way, we both learned some new tricks and new things about techniques and materials and that was unexpected but rewarding. We would speak on the phone several times a day—fantastic communication. It was an absolute privilege to have someone like Daniele realise my design.

Daniele has done some great jobs with concrete in the past. Because the site has to deal with a lot of salt in the air, concrete was a natural choice and it’s been completed to an extremely high standard. The living room is a great example. There’s a small north facing area with some seating set into the wall. As it’s a slightly barren, rocky site, I wanted to get as many plants into the space as possible to soften the ambience and for privacy. The plants also provide evaporative cooling. The idea was to open the northern facade to the living room. This meant keeping the concrete columns as thin as possible while still including the drainage pipes hidden within. Daniele was fantastic with that. He appreciated why it was important and made it happen in an elegant way.

I had an early rough sketch where the building looked a bit like a bird on a ledge. As the design evolved, that translated into a profile at the end of the roof that ends up looking almost like a stiletto heel. It’s quite elegant. Something like that is easily drawn but then the complexity of getting the concrete and the fixings right, and finding the right method, could be tricky. I can think up anything but in the end the builder might find it hard to do it that way. Daniele and his team were incredibly proactive in realising this feature.

There is a glass lift, a beautiful little jewel, set into the waistline of the building. The lift, the stairs around it, and the facade needed to be structurally and functionally connected. It was enormously complex in terms of the geometry, the engineering, and the materials. It looks so simple that you might not even notice it but to get something that complex done so elegantly was a great credit to Daniele, Site Administrator Gianni Di Pizio, and the Bellevarde team. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

The whole project took place during 2021-2023 when material costs were fluctuating wildly. At one point, for example, it became difficult to get timber—you had to have your connections. Again, Bellevarde proved their worth. Their deep roots in the industry meant they were able to source materials and their size meant they could shift them between sites to where they were needed most. Bellevarde have access to exceptionally good tradespeople and Gianni was persistent with them. You can rely on Bellevarde.

You start with a blank sheet of paper then you pass your ideas onto a builder expecting them to deliver on your dream. By engaging Bellevarde, you gain access to an enormous pool of knowledge. Having over 40 years of experience of high quality building with dedicated and intelligent people makes it something special. The systems they have established are just excellent. They are great at keeping a check on costs too. It’s pretty amazing what you get.

The owners are very appreciative that Daniele is available to fix any minor issues that arise, even after they moved in. He will always follow up. One of those things with Bellevarde is they take responsibility. They are committed to having everything be the best it can be. Bellevarde is a real Australian success story. Having worked in Germany, England, Japan, and other places, there’s something good about the way the process works in Australia, especially with a company like Bellevarde. You can do really serious and great work here with a bit of fun. There’s a sense of positivity that you don’t often find elsewhere.

We first started looking at this site around thirteen years ago. When we finally bought it, we set about finding an architect who understood our vision for it—to maximise the integration between home and environment. The design would need to consider the exposure to the cliff side and the view of sky and sea. We like indoor-outdoor living so there was always going to be a lot of glass. We also wanted to be able to open the space up when the weather was nice and close it down when the weather was harsh. Having thought our way through that process, it soon became clear that architect Rolf Ockert from ROAr was most in sync with us. We supplied him with the broad strokes of what we hoped to achieve and he responded with a wonderful design.

Another important factor in the ultimate success of the project was the outstanding relationship between architect and builder. Bellevarde’s Daniele Feltracco has an architectural background which was a huge help in getting the design and plans realised. He and Rolf had a great synergy.

Collaborating with Daniele and the Bellevarde team was an absolute pleasure. Daniele is excellent at what he does, a real artisan. He double checks everything and was just so engaged in the entirety of the job, often going above and beyond. He and his team undertook the project with a great deal of professionalism, never cut any corners, and were always focused on optimising the process.

Like any big project, we faced some challenges but they were expertly managed by Bellevarde. We started the build during 2021 so there were some issues with labour restrictions and supply shortages. Bellevarde, with their strong external relationships with suppliers and contractors, were able to keep the project going at a good pace. The process was deftly overseen by Site Administrator Gianni Di Pizio. It reinforced our decision to take on such a professional builder. Then there was the record-breaking rain we experienced. Again, Bellevarde took it in their stride.

Everyone on the build team was fantastic, from the full time Bellevarde staff to the contractors they had access to. We ended up working quite closely with the carpenters who were highly talented and always happy to help with anything we needed doing along the way. The timber and carpentry ended up being a very important and pleasing aspect of the house. We initially wanted the wooden floor to ground the structure so it doesn’t feel too open and dominated by ocean and sky. The timber gives it a homely, earthy feel. We liked it so much that we extended the use of timber to the ceiling.

The unique and beautiful balustrade on the cliff was another triumph. Generally on a cliff edge you might have a glass finish but that would tend to interrupt the seamless transition to the sea and it would also cut the airflow. Rolf was able to create a less intrusive design and then it was up to Daniele and his team to actualise it—a challenge for any builder given the safety concerns. Daniele carried out some extraordinarily rigorous testing. He had various Marine-grade steel bars made up and secured in the ground for a very long time to test durability and safety. No shortcuts. Once again highlighting the professionalism and long-term approach taken by Bellevarde.

We are delighted with the final outcome. It’s awesome. It maximises exposure to the incredible environment and ecosystem we have here. The views from upstairs and downstairs are something to behold. There’s always this exposure to that fantastic vista of sky and ocean, like an ever-changing canvas. You can put up any art you like but it will never be able to beat that view. We love the spa at the edge of the cliff. You just see the ocean. We love the yoga room and its beautiful little Zen garden in the front as well as the integrated areas that allow access to the sauna, steam room, and outdoor shower. It’s a perfect integration of indoor and outdoor living.

Daniele is still very helpful if we need anything, he is on top of it all. Bellevarde are a pleasure to work with.