GRAPHĒ: Three Sisters (and Their Families) Share This Prefab Beach House

The Queensland retreat’s three units have sets of rooms that can be utilized to accommodate a given group dynamic.

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Project Details:

Location: Point Lookout, Queensland, Australia

Architect: Blok Modular / @blokmod

Architect: Vokes and Peters

Footprint: 6,450 square feet

Builder: Blok Modular

Builder: Pagewood Projects

Structural Engineer: Optimum Structures

Civil Engineer: HCE Engineers

Hydraulic Consultant: CWA

Certifier: BCA Certifiers

Town Planner: Survey Mark

Photographer: Christopher Frederick Jones / @christopherfrederickjones

From the Architect: "Blok Three Sisters is a new multifamily modular project composed of three coastal terrace houses, constructed in the Blok Modular factory in Brisbane, Australia, and assembled on-site on Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) by the same team. Designed for three sisters who had spent their family holidays as children in a house on the same site, the terrace houses enable their shared vacations to continue with their own children and extended families. Individually the houses are designed with agility and flexibility in mind, in anticipation of the adapting and evolving household population and demands on them to accommodate change in family dynamic.

"This project sets a benchmark for lightweight, medium-density housing on the island, providing an adaptable and resilient solution to environmental changes and challenges. Its modular design enables the structures to be elevated, relocated, or repositioned in response to potential threats such as flooding, storm surges, or rising sea levels.Each dwelling can be occupied in a number of ways to accommodate changing dynamics in each family: they can be configured as a one-bedroom apartment on ground level with two bedroom and bathroom and living above, as living downstairs with three bedrooms above, or as a four-bedroom house.Central gardens bring light, airflow, and new vegetation into the center of a long skinny plan. Glazing systems stack away to promote cross-ventilation throughout.

"At the rear of each terrace a generous double-height portico immerses the occupants in the dune vegetation and views of the Pacific Ocean and is overlooked by an elevated living room. At the upper level, a further two bedrooms are colocated with a bathroom, accommodating adult children, friends, or grandchildren. One bedroom draws its amenity from the central garden, the other looks over the street to a vegetated hillside. A defended breezeway connects all rooms of the terrace and terminates at the generous volume of the central garden."

"The project prioritizes pedestrian and bicycle transportation by including bike storage, and not car accommodation. The master plan arranges three dwellings with direct and equal access to the dunes, providing unhindered pedestrian access to the beach."