Paradise found
A rammed earth guest house in Byron Bay by Thais Pupio Design champions the ancient building material with incredibly appealing results.
Byron Bay is that quintessential little piece of Aussie beachside paradise. It’s a small New South Wales coastal town popular for its surf beaches, music festivals and colourful mix of bohemian nature lovers, shrewd developers, holidaying backpackers and fun-loving creatives. It’s also where Brazilian architect Thais Pupio set up her practice, Thais Pupio Design, after relocating to Australia 11 years ago. Florianópolis, where she used to live in the south region of Brazil, shares the same sub-tropical climate as Byron Bay and so the move was undoubtedly a strategic one. Thais is adept at producing highly efficient yet humble environmentally responsive residential architecture and the same design principles that drive her projects in Brazil also drive those in Australia.
It’s an expertise not lost on her recent clients, a husband and wife with three grown children who wanted a guest house next door to their own home. “They know I’m Brazilian and came to me with a sense that I could create something tropical in both appearance and feel,” says Thais. “They didn’t want anything too rustic – or anything that looked like a beach shack – but it did need to be inviting, earthy and modern.”
An ordinary house built in the 1980s already occupied the property and the idea was to dramatically re-work it. The new two-bedroom residence needed to be low maintenance and conducive to entertaining large groups of friends and family. More importantly, it needed to retain the original footprint and not encroach on the clients’ lush garden; their pride and joy. As Thais explains, “They also wanted this established garden to become a part of the house, which just wasn’t the case with the former dwelling. So I needed to connect to the landscaping without imposing on it.” Resolving how best to frame views of the garden soon became the priority, along with Thais’ desire to create a serene, immersive experience for anyone sitting inside and looking out.
Generous glazing, and strategically placed louvres that facilitate ample cross ventilation, ensures a strong connection with the outdoors. As does the kitchen’s breakfast bar, which