Spending much of the year travelling abroad with partner and opera singer Donald Cant, architect Robin Williams sought to build a beach house for themselves that they would look forward to returning to afterwards. That has taken the form of Villa Marittima, a structure located on St. Andrews Beach on the Mornington Peninsula that has won numerous awards for its transcendent polycarbonate construction. Williams’ childhood spent on Queensland’s Sunshine Beach figured prominently into his designs, resulting in quirks such as the floor of the bedroom being angled at 6.2 degrees, alongside a three-sided glass-fronted fireplace and a secret garden hidden behind a sliding panel at the far end of the pool. Serving as a respite from their careers, the beach house acts also as a repository for Williams’ memories. After all, he explains, “Memories form an important part of architecture.”
