This new residence in Mt. Eliza responds carefully to its remarkable corner site. In addition to following the contours of the land, the living and master bedroom pavilions angle off the street grid to frame the prioritized ocean views to the north and west as well as orient the primary spaces of the home to maximize the sun.
The front of the home is accessed via a cascading steel canopy covered pathway into a seemingly modest single storey home. Upon entering however, the grand scale of the residence is revealed. A truly impressive master suite has a north and east facing balcony which will allows the clients to both wake up with the morning sun and maximize the view corridor down Kunyung Road to clearly highlight the striking Melbourne skyline across Port Phillip Bay. The light flooded main entry “spine” leads to a double height void containing a floating staircase to the second living area below. The spine and stair intentionally culminate and focus the eye into a two storey window wall which greets guests with spectacular framed views across the bay.
Adding to the visual extension and feeling of space which is apparent upon entry, the stepped down open living, dining and kitchen area is just beyond the double height void. Finally, a shaded west facing deck, extends off the living area above the pool towards the sun’s final dramatic destination over the faint silhouette of the Mornington Peninsula National Park in the distance.
For over a decade, Christopher Megowan, director of M – A, has passionately dedicated himself to the study, teaching and practice of Architecture, design and development. Christopher earned a Bachelor of Architecture (5 Year professional degree) from the University of Southern California in 2008 where he received numerous honours, scholarships, grants and awards. Acting as owner, designer, and developer, he completed his first built work prior to graduating University. Since then, he has been involved in projects ranging from bar & cafe fitouts to single family homes & 50 unit mixed use developments. Prior to starting M – A, Christopher cut his teeth working for award winning Architecture practices in Los Angeles, London, and Melbourne. Christopher has taught multiple design and construction studios at the University of Melbourne and Monash University at both undergraduate and graduate levels as well as served as a guest critic in Architecture for several different courses.
The owner’s of ‘The Ash’ came to Dalecki Design looking to create a light, bright home with a functional layout utilising a layered, mixed material palette. As a young, growing family, it was imperative that the home was not only suited to their current lifestyle needs, but also supported them through the different stages of life. It was also extremely important for the family that there be a strong connection between the indoor and outdoor living zones that takes advantage of the block’s northern aspect.
Working closely with the client, Dalecki Design was able to create a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom family home with a durable, mixed material palette that will stand the test of time, with the inherent beauty of each product ageing alongside the growing family.
Dalecki Design created a ‘U’ shape layout for the home, which wraps around a central courtyard and alfresco zone, creating a cohesive indoor/outdoor connection. This layout allows the home owners to have views to the outdoors from all areas of the house, whilst also allowing the northern sun to penetrate through the open courtyard and into the home.
Openings throughout the home are strategically positioned to gain winter northern sun whilst also capturing the summer breezes. The pond on the southern orientation of the home acts as a ‘cooling zone’ to further assist in cooling these summer breezes before they enter the home, whilst also providing a dual sided outdoor view from the open plan living zone.
Given the home’s footprint takes up a large percentage of the block, layered landscaping has been incorporated to ensure that wherever the family may be within the home, they will have clear views of external greenery. This includes the rooftop garden which has been incorporated to provide a sense of being grounding with the surrounding environment from the upper level of the home.
The layered material palette incorporates feature brick and block work which seamlessly flows from inside to out, as well as exposed concrete and timber to add a textural dimension to the simple form of the house. The continuation of the layered, mixed material palette from the internal to external zones aids in the flow between the indoors and outdoors, creating cohesion between these two spaces. The home owners experience the sense of cohesion between the two zones as soon as they walk through the front doors, being greeted with obscured views of the central courtyard through a breeze wall screen, providing an immediate connection whilst still retaining an aspect of privacy.
The home has been separated in to two distinct zones over two floors, allowing both the children and the parents to have their own space and privacy as they grow. The home’s compact, yet spacious functional layout means there are no large distances to travel between internal spaces, with the ability to easily site and communicate between spaces creating a sense of connection internally between all zones.
A feature two and a half storey entry void, with north facing clerestory windows have been incorporated to flood natural light to the central passage, brightening a traditionally dark area of the home and diffusing light throughout to create a light, bright home.
Dalecki Design is a multi award winning boutique Perth Building Designer.
Founded by Janik Dalecki, the firm delivers bespoke design solutions tailored to meet each of their client’s unique ways of living.
With over a decade of experience in the industry, Dalecki Design has developed a reputation for delivering contemporary designs and interiors finished to exceptional quality.
Specialising in custom home design, with a particular focus on adaptive reuse, Dalecki Design enjoys the challenge of utilising character structures as a basis for modern homes that meet current living needs.
Dalecki Design has provided design solutions catered specifically to client’s needs and budgets across a variety of scales and functions, for home additions and renovations as well as new developments.
As a firm, Dalecki Design has a strong belief that design should contribute positively to the environment. This has led to a focus on sustainable design solutions, in particular passive solar design.
Located in Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula, Whitehall Road is one of B.E Architecture’s established projects that has recently been revisited to capture current imagery.
The house at Whitehall Road is positioned at the crest of a hill, to take advantage of the sweeping views of the surrounding landscape. A grove of mature gum trees inform the location of the house; their tall and slender trunks countering the low horizontality of the building and providing shade to the pool and deck areas. The overriding gesture of the building is the massive drystone wall running the full length of the house. It is cut into the earth, at once anchoring the house and countering the exposure of the site.
Orientated to follow the drystone wall, the house is a series of rectilinear pavilions. Downplaying the scale of the five bedroom house, the pavilions allow for a variety of outdoor, indoor and interstitial spaces. The character of the interstitial spaces is further emphasised through the use of fully retractable glazing and delicate cane screening.
Stone, timber, glass and render are the predominant materials. The heaviness and solidity of the stone and the scale of the timber sections provide a strong contrast to the large expanses of glass which feature throughout. Sightlines are carefully coordinated with the glazing in a sequenced revealing of the vast landscape.
Led by directors Broderick Ely, Jonathon Boucher And Andrew Piva, the B.E architecture team is young, dynamic and multicultural, with a range of personal interests and specialities.
Members of the firm work closely with their clients, builders and individual contractors to ensure that the building expresses the client it was built for and everything needed is in its place. The designs are quiet, yet strong creating a response that is appropriate to its surroundings with attention to materiality that ensures projects will continue to improve over the passage of time.
With more than 20 years of practice, B.E architecture has built a body of work in various locations around Australia, with international commissions currently under development.
A bar fridge, recessed into the rear wall of the bunker, combines with upholstered seating, planter and TV to create a highly functional pool side haven.
The rear area of this residence did not meet the requirements of a highly active family. With foresight in mind, the area was reconfigured to provide amenities for four children, parents and friends.
An existing outdoor living space was extended to include a honed masonry fireplace, AV hub and portable lounge. A timber landing separates the spa and lap pool, the pool widening at one end to provide a deeper diving area. A plywood clad bunker at the end of the pool is orientated back towards the house; lounges, planter and recessed bar fridge all provide a pool side haven for children and adults. A powder room at the rear of the bunker and an adjacent recreation terrace further contribute to a flexible and functional project.
Dan Gayfer is the founder and creative influence behind Dan Gayfer Design. After completing a Bachelor of Design at RMIT in 2005 (Hons 1), Dan pursued his dream to create a studio that integrated building, interior and exterior design – a business that today also extends to project coordination.
Since the inception of Dan Gayfer Design in 2011, Dan has consistently delivered intelligent spatial outcomes for his clients that boast responsive design and visually pleasing form. He actively pursues the marriage of aesthetic and spatial function when he designs, and this is evident in the graceful flow of his lifestyle enabling creations.
Dan Gayfer Design brings functionality and considered innovation into residential spaces. The studio embraces a collaborative approach to design, where the lifestyle needs of every client are identified and prioritised to result in outstanding and customised living spaces.
CONTACT
Dan Gayfer Design
3 Nicholson Street
Brunswick East VIC 3057
Australia
Limerick House is a modest addition to an existing dwelling on a rural Victorian property. The new addition orientates the home towards the expansive country hillside views, providing a connection to its surrounds not evident in the existing dwelling.
The form of the addition was inspired by the dilapidated timber shearing sheds that inhabit the local area.
The exterior of the addition is clad entirely in spotted gum decking boards, stained black to enhance the resemblance the materiality of the dilapidated shearing sheds. The aging of the timber as it silvers off will further enhance this resemblance.
Silvertop ash lining boards were used extensively internally to contrast the dark, timber clad exterior, and to encourage the traditional notion of a warm winter weekend cabin.
The gabled form of the addition responds to the existing pitched roofs of the existing house. The new addition has the same dimensions and shape as the existing three railway cottages used to build the existing house, but is sloped on the eastern boundary to create a doorway, used to link the house to another existing house on the property.
Led by a strong contemporary design sensibility, Melbourne-based Solomon Troup Architects are an emerging architectural practice with an unwavering commitment to creating contemporary and timeless residential homes and commercial spaces. more
House A is the first of three carbon neutral dwellings in Scarborough made from high recycled content concrete panels and whitewashed recycled brick. The house is 3 storey mini tower with a garage underneath and a loft on top. Minimal land, minimal house, minimal life.
A 1980s beach house is given a new lease on life with the addition of a playroom, first floor deck and expanded living spaces. The original split-face block base is kept and the new program is grafted on, greatly enhancing orientation and functionality.
Figureground Architecture is a Melbourne based architectural studio established in 2011.
Since its recent inception Figureground has developed a reputation as a leader in innovative hospitality design, gaining awards for early projects such as Pope Joan Bar and Industry Beans Café and Roastery.
CONTACT
Studio 1, Level 1, 156 George St Fitzroy Victoria 3065
The brief – Reinvent a grand Victorian-era terrace to shift the main formal living areas from the front of the home to the more relaxed and private rear garden, one level below the street. Extend this new living space and open up the back two floors to the outdoors, and can you re-landscape the gardens while you’re there? And add a rear garage with a studio above it?
The result – The original home is now a sophisticated urban retreat suited to a busy 21st century family. A new multi-level plywood extension inserted into the main rear living room proudly distinguishes old from new and connects several levels of the house to the garden for the very first time.
A mirrored box containing an ensuite, inserted into what was formerly a second bedroom, which is still resplendent with its original Victorian ceiling and floor details, exemplifies our contemporary-meets-classic approach.
The feeling: Generous, inviting, surprising and with the new garden outlook, ultimately happy.
Eva-Marie Prineas founded Studio Prineas in 2004. Her background and passion for heritage conservation and sustainable design forms the basis of the Studio Prineas philosophy of understanding and adapting places that are already special.
Eva-Marie’s award-winning approach to design stems from an intuitive understanding of what to keep and what to cleverly adapt in her projects. She prides herself on her studio’s collaborative skills and personally invests in client relationships to ensure each project is a combined effort with a shared vision.
Eva-Marie was a co-founder of DARCH – the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) group for emerging architects, and maintains a role as guest critic at the University of Sydney. She is also an examiner for the architects’ registration exam at the NSW Board of Architects. In 2007 Eva-Marie was elected onto the NSW Chapter Council for the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and has continued to contribute to numerous juries including the AIA Awards.
CONTACT
Studio 504
19a Boundary Street
Rushcutters Bay
NSW 2011 Australia
