← Projects
Long Reef Surf Life Saving Club
Complementing the Coastline
Community, Landscape, Public
The brief and community consultation called for a building that is low-key, hardworking, robust and honest, providing essential amenity for current and future generations of locals, Club members, Council and visitors alike.
Our response is for a quiet architecture that nestles into the surrounding landscape. It’s a building that weathers and lets the landscape in, respecting and preserving the rich and delicate ecosystem that is Long Reef and the greater Griffith Reserve.
The new facility is in fact a series of smaller pavilions set within the landscape, book-ended by an existing dune to the east and a man-made dune to the west. The pavilions are clad in timber rain screens that are allowed to silver and settle into the natural scene.
The pavilions are arranged around a central courtyard, the main social hub. They provide amenity to outside spaces, in turn reducing the building footprint and reliance on enclosed space. Outdoor furniture collects shifting sands and vegetation as well as creating opportunities to linger and initiate serendipitous interactions between different user groups. The main pavilion hosts a function room on the second storey, providing breathtaking views to North Head, and intimate views into the existing coastal landscape and Banksia Grove. The kite shaped roof is designed to gently rise to maintain a low scale.
Through several Working Group meetings facilitated by Northern Beaches Council, and meetings on-site with Club and community groups, design iterations were made to address the concerns of different users of the site.
The result is a building that provides amenity for a safer beach-going experience, a place to interact with your neighbours, learn how to surf, attend a nippers session with the kids, take a yoga class or a first aid course. It’s a base to compete in events, or host a school excursions to discover the site’s unique coastal flora and fauna. It’s a spot to stop in for coffee while walking the dog, grab an ice-cream or catch some waves.
Across the seasons the Long Reef Surf Life Saving Club is in a constant state of flux, a flexible building that dramatically increases the amenity of the site while preserving and celebrating the landscape that people come to enjoy.
The pavilions are arranged around a central courtyard, the main social hub.
They provide amenity to outside spaces, in turn reducing the building footprint and reliance on enclosed space.
The kite shaped roof is designed to gently rise to maintain a low scale.
The main pavilion hosts a function room on the second storey, providing breathtaking views to North Head, and intimate views into the existing coastal landscape and Banksia Grove.
