Bondi Bombora ?House
A ?Bombora? is an indigenous Australian term, possibly with its origin in the ?Dharuk? language spoken in the Sydney region, to describe a wave breaking over a shallow reef or sandbank that has been adopted into Australian surf culture.
This dwelling house, built in a mixed and densely packed street located just a stone?s throw from the Bondi Beach is an homage to that surfers? haven; to the swell and the waves that have formed a rich intertidal culture for millennia. The three-story home, with accommodation for a tribe of three generations, and a menagerie of dogs, cats and chickens, is compressed into a compact site. Its wavy frontage forms an open arm to embrace the central entrance, and with no space for a veranda or portico, a steel hood shades the front door, reached by a fluid path and entry steps. Photography by © Prue Ruscoe
The building?s base is clad with blue and jade herringbone mosaic tiles, which shimmer and undulate in the daylight like the surface of the ocean.
The main floor, painted in a pale blue shade, is a kind of ?piano nobile?: the first floor of a Renaissance residence. Dedicated to its ?noble? owners, it was usually the floor with the highest ceilings and was elevated sufficiently to sequester the residents away from the grime and smell of the street below.
Crowning the three levels is the metal-clad bedroom level, set back from the street front and awaiting some cascading trailing plants to soften the armoured ?battleship? ...