In a dense beachside village the clients wanted a ‘forever home’ as a sanctuary for their family while providing privacy from the neighbouring dwellings. With three active children they wanted different spaces for them while still feeling connected as a family. The challenge here was to allow sun and breezes to filter in whilst restricting to presence and overlooking of adjoining buildings and the traffic from a busy road. A small existing cottage was to be incorporated into the design. We conceived a series of landscape courtyards stepping down the slope in various scales to provide different spaces and and degree of openness for family activities. The main living volume, set parallel to the cottage, is a tall space with a sheltering roof and screened glazing that controls sunlight and breezes like the canopy of a tree. A stepped, bedroom wing with movable divisions between spaces allows for flexibility of use and shelters a stepped garden courtyard within which life feels complete and contained.