The James Robertson House is one of those places that you could easily imagine exist in paradise. Accessible only by ferry, the house is perched on a slope above Great Mackerel Beach in New South Wales and commands breathtaking views. Yet, its creative steel-based architecture ensures that it does not sully the natural beauty it was built to enjoy.

The house is an arrangement of three separate pavilions cantilevered off a heavily-wooded, narrow 45-degree slope, overlooking the sea. Steel pylons anchor the pavilions to the side of the slope; decks, steps and an inclinator link the pavilions. The more important rooms (kitchen/ dining, sitting room and master bedroom) sit on top of podiums that contain the secondary rooms and guest bedrooms, elevating the main spaces to embrace the wide views.

Landowners fiercely defend the natural beauty of the hamlet that includes Great Mackerel Beach. A local convention dictates that house colours should blend with the natural tonal context of eucalypts and sandstone. Most residences are painted khaki green or ranch-house brown. For the James Robertson House, architect Rob Brown, Dawson Brown Architecture, chose glass walls, black powder coat-painted steel framing and copper roofing that provide a sophisticated, modern look, yet blend quietly with the surroundings.

All three pavilions are framed in steel. Lightweight steel framing was used due to the remote location and steepness of the site, which required helicopter delivery. Also steel was required due to a rampant termite problem, its resistance to white ants and bushfires, as well as for its inherent strength.

Photos by Anthony Bowell and Patrick Bingham Hall 

Several tonnes of steel were used in different profiles, including I-beams, PFC- and C-sections, angle columns, customised fins and folded steel hoods. Square hollow sections (SHS) also were used. Most of the steel was galvanized painted on site.

With its sub-tropical micro-climate, and no more than 15 degrees seasonal variation, the house is designed to capture on shore breezes. Sun shading is provided by the folded steel hoods, mechanical metal blinds and generous overhangs. The strongest aspect of the house is the sense of framing provided by the overlapping layers of projecting metal roofs.

Last June, Rob Brown's ingenuity in designing the James Robertson house was recognized by the Royal Institute of British Architects with a RIBA Worldwide Award.