King Island Houses – completed

KING ISLAND HOUSES

KI is located north of the Tasmanian mainland in Bass Strait. Slap bang in the path of the Roaring Forties, the island’s west-facing coastline is subject to ferocious gales which whip up enormous seas and subject the overlooking houses to an incessant rain of salt-spray.

Corrosion therefore is a major factor to be resolved when designing and specifying for these beach houses.

The views and aspect of the wild coastline are spectacular in the extreme, but the use of corrosion-resistant materials such as hardwood timbers, stainless steel fixings and tie downs and aluminium roof sheeting adds a considerable to construction costs compared with more benign mainland environments.

There is a serious price to pay for building in extreme locations.

Nevertheless we have designed and built two beach-houses on the exposed west coast of KI and both are standing up well to the fury of the gales.

I guess that staying in exposed places may not be a widely appreciated experience, but for those who respond to the call of the wild there are few equal pleasures.