Inside the Worlds Most Secluded Dream Home Hidden In a Remote Paradise (House Tour)

I believe the flight here is one of the best flights you could probably take in the country. You're literally flying over some of the most spectacular reef anywhere in the world and then all of a sudden in the distance appears Lizard Island which is a group of say two or three islands that essentially pop out of the reef and looking down and especially when it's a really clear day it's just mind-blowing. And so you already arrive feeling that you've had a journey of an experience and here you are in this most magical natural environment you know it's something that was very special from day one. I'm James Davidson I'm the director of JDA Co. I was the design and project architect for the house at Lizard Island. So Lizard Island is located around I think it's 200 nautical miles north of Cairns and it's called Jigaroo by the local dingle people and Jigaroo refers to the stingray. The site where we're sitting today is actually on a peninsula of the northwest part of the main island and it's surrounded on all sides essentially by private beaches that lead to the resort which is where you actually begin your journey to the house. One of the critical things that we were aware of from the beginning was the sequence of arrival to the site and once we'd actually put the road through in order for us to get the materials onto site we were very well aware of the power of arriving where you come past the cottage which is the smaller house on the site and then you walk up the granite line stairs you come through the front door into this kind of amazing internal space that sets up all the view lines and the experience of the way that even the interior design was done it's to reflect what's going on around you so for example the way that colors from the reef and colors from the bark on the trees and even though it's a subliminal kind of sense I feel that you can pick that up without really knowing that that was the intent. The design of the kitchen itself was obviously an incredibly important part of the experience of the living space upstairs here you know not only do you have the beautiful esmeralda stone bench top and kitchen bench which was designed as an island in itself you've also got the fissure and pichel appliances such as an upright cellar for the wine and that's important because in the tropics wine and tropical heat don't go well together and then you've got the fridges and everything is designed in a way that it's hidden away but still there and easily accessible and so we worked very hard getting this kitchen to function as a kitchen but also feeling like it was part of the architectural proposition for the house itself but at the same time we were well aware that it needs to function for specific guests who might actually require a more refined experience with their own personal chef and so the kitchen itself's been designed with that intent so you can have both of those things happening when needed. The spiral stair itself was one of the first elements of the house that I worked with in terms of designing the plan and it became very obvious to me that it needed something amazing as the heart of the house and so that's why the stair is the way it is and then adding theatre to that by putting the skylight above it where you can see the passing of the sun and the moon and the clouds throughout the day. When you do go down the spiral stair you actually arrive to a central living area which is primarily designed in a way with all the angles of the room to feel more cave-like. The idea is that on those days when maybe it's inclement weather you might actually bunker down downstairs and snuggle in for the long haul essentially whereas upstairs a lot more kind of bright and airy with a lot of view and then you've got on either side bedrooms that are in themselves their own little world as well. One to the northwest looks out over the sea and then the southeast bedroom is actually looking directly down onto Hibiscus Beach where the turtles lay their eggs and and there's a little grove of trees right there so you can essentially touch nature if you want. Everything we're seeing and experiencing here and the built form reflects the site, reflects its location, reflects the surrounding nature like when we first arrived the island had just been through a major cyclone and so I was very well aware from day one it can get nasty and every step of the way I was thinking about well let's design something that can withstand a major event like that while at the same time reflecting in its built fabric the colours, the textures, the sort of feeling of the ruggedness because it is the dry tropics it's not wet tropics where we are and Lizard Island itself is one big kind of granite outcrop in the Coral Sea and I just wanted to draw from that as inspiration. I feel like what I've tried to achieve here is that the house has been moulded and sculpted by its elements and that was something that kind of defined the way that I designed the gland form and then as time went on I started to notice that it had taken on the shape of a stingray so I feel like from a philosophical point of view in terms of what's underpinning the built form of this particular house it really was sculptural in that sense in allowing it to be shaped by its surroundings and its environment. When I'm thinking about what I'm most proud about I think back to my early days of architectural education and we were taught a lot about phenomenology and genius loci which basically is spirit of place and that's something that I haven't had too many opportunities in my career to truly design a place that has genius loci and has a spirit of its place and I feel like this is the house that does that and it's something that I'm very well aware of which is why when you're in this space there's always a connection to its environment but at the same time I think you do feel the connection I truly do and that's something that I'm most proud of it's not what the house looks like per se it's actually how it feels.