Beach House
Whitstable | 2012
Beach House in Whitstable
A handsome addition to the beachfront
Inspired by Danish summerhouse culture, Studiomama designed a small family beach house on a restricted site in Whitstable. The chalet is in keeping with the local vernacular and sleeps a family of four, with a generous communal area for hosting family and friends. It has seating for 20 people inside and outside and plenty of space for play.
Small scale architecture
We started with a huge window through which to watch the waves, creating a sense of space inside the structure, which was made on-site by a local builder and has a footprint of just 35m. At high tide, the waves come right up to the front deck, so the Beach House is raised off the beach on galvanised steel stilts.
The sea view is the focus of a simple living space, which includes a woodburning stove, a dining table, stacking stools and a modest stainless steel-fronted kitchen. The large living space size and flexible furnishings mean plenty of space for playing together and hosting friends and family.
Behind the kitchen are bunk beds for children and a separate bathroom – the only space to deviate from the seamless wood interior in bright orange. A lowered floor takes advantage of the sloping site to create space for a mezzanine above, which acts as a cosy sleeping platform with two double matrasses, paired with a bedside table made from wooden offcuts as part of the Pallet Project. A long horizontal window provides views over the countryside behind.
The interior is entirely clad in sawn softwood, creating a sense of continuity, whilst the outside is seamlessly clad with cedar shingles, which require no maintenance and withstand the coastal weather.
Called a ‘handsome addition’ to the Whitstable beachfront by Gessato, the Beach House features in Rebecca Roke’s book Nanotecture: Tiny Built Things (Phaidon) about small-scale architecture.
CLIENT: Private
DESIGN: Studiomama
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ben Anders