Sally’s Place | Bower Architecture

Sally’s Place by Bower Architecture reimagines the beach house as a coastal pavilion allowing the living and dining areas to integrate with the landscape views beyond. It is a bright, light and fresh home with coloured highlights, and an ode to enduring love.
 

The home is peaceful, comfortable, warm and very casual. The interior design is bright, light and fresh with highlights of colour, referencing the Point Lonsdale seaside surrounds. A warm timber cabinetry spine runs the length of the house, linking, unifying, and offering warmth and texture.
 

“When Simon and Sally came to us, their initial vision was to create a quality, modern, light and airy home for their retirement together in Point Lonsdale. They wanted to make the most of the vast open views to the golf course and surrounding trees,” says Anna Dutton from Bower Architecture. 
 

“Similar to a lot of our clients, having a home which complements its environment, with a strong connection to landscape and nature was very important. They were also keen to lean into our experience in designing homes that support graceful aging in place.”
 

For the couple, it was love at first sight, and the house quickly became a beautiful ode to Simon’s memory, as the Mills’ journey of planning and creating such a special home together was sadly interrupted when Simon became unexpectedly ill in 2020. 
 

“My husband, Simon and I frequently holidayed on the Bellarine and Surf Coast, and after 25 years living in regional Victoria, with our pending retirement and desire to be be living closer to our family, we decided to make a sea change,” says house owner Sally Mills.
 

“We had always dreamed of living on the coast, and Simon and I were drawn to the region’s mix of seaside tranquillity, idyllic bays, sheltered beaches, and particularly, the charm of the local beachside village on the foreshore.
 

“Our much loved Simon was diagnosed with cancer and tragically died ten months later just after Christmas, and several months before our house was completed. 
 

“This was a heartbreaking and devastating time for our family. Simon was so invested and involved in the design and planning stages. He had a vision for us to be here together and to enjoy the beautiful views and the westerly aspect of the home.”
 

The support from the architectural team became a crucial and significant factor for the couple, particularly as their hopes and dreams for retirement together were dashed halfway through the build process.
 

“Anna, the Bower team, Lachie and LRC continued to work collaboratively together as a team, using their expertise to turn our vision goals and aspirations into a reality ensuring our goals came to fruition, and the home has become affectionately known as ‘Sally’s Place’,” says Mills. 
 

For Dutton, the challenge was to support Mills and to finish the home without interrupting her grief and ensuring that the project became a beacon of hope and comfort for her.
 

“Sally’s needs shifted through the construction process and the team were able to respond and adapt as needed, to support through a devastating time,” she says.
 

According to Mills, the Bower team was everything she and Simon had hoped for, and more.
 

“The magic of the house is its space, ultra-modern design and style, and location. Positioned close enough to the beach and village, the house of our dreams is everything we had hoped for, despite the heartbreaking loss of Simon,” she says. 
 

“Our architect, Anna, did so much more than design our house. She was with us providing professional expertise and kind care, from the first pencil sketches and design brief to the moment I opened the front door and moved in.
 

“The upstairs living room holds a special place in my heart and has become a serene sanctuary for me, as I recall Simon immersing himself in the planning and details of the feature curved wall, timber joinery and stackable glass windows which would take in exceptional views of the natural surrounds, Lake Victoria and spectacular sunsets. Simon is very much missed, but his presence and special touches can be felt and are everywhere in our dream house.”

This project captures all the elements of Bower’s design ethos: deep listening to the practice's clients; joyful journeys and moments; connection to place and space; continuity and flow of for functionality and space from indoors to out; sustainability and timelessness; and craft. 
 

Sally’s Place is 100% electric and solar powered. It is designed to make the most of passive daylighting, warming, cooling and ventilation. It is a modest size and a third bedroom doubles as a second living room ‘flexi space’. 
 

The stepping back of the first floor allows the living and dining pavilion at the front to have lofty high ceilings. Full height glazing and sliding glass doors allow a connection to sky at all times. 
 

The first floor pulled back from the spectacular high window to the rear garden allows it to run double height, drawing the eye up to the sky. 

The curving in of the first floor form away from the boundary allows the ceiling height of the flexi space to increase within regulations, towards the open view and sky. 
 

The ground floor is designed for ease and accessibility for gaining in place including all the main spaces at ground level, wide circulation and doorways, flush thresholds, an ensuite and powder room that allow for future grabrails and an orienting central spine of warm timber joinery for visual and cognitive orientation. 
 

As the architecture and interior design are an integrated whole, the materials that run outside to inside blur this boundary so that the outdoors feels drawn through the home. 
 

“We feel there is nothing more luxurious than something well crafted, considered and elegant with a sense of permanence,” Dutton says.