Image Credit : Paul West Photography
Project Overview
A funky and stylish, open planned and welcoming home with all the modern conveniences, nestled into a beautifully landscaped garden. With a modern architectural style, the home has a dramatic entrance composed of a cantilevered portico, angular walls and eaves and high volumes.
The key architectural feature of the house is an amazing hand-laid stone fin wall that cuts from inside to out and soars from the impressive entrance through the first floor and beyond the roof. This fin wall sits beside a beautifully crafted steel and timber staircase, which leads from the spacious and light-filled entry hall up to the children’s lounge room on the first floor.
The interior includes crisp, custom-designed joinery throughout – all designed by the architect to maintain a continuity of style throughout the house. Interior features include walk-in robes to the bedrooms, integrated and unified joinery design linking kitchen, butler's pantry and laundry and a striking timber veneer bar in the pool room - concealing access to a 2000 bottle wine cellar below.
The kitchen island bench and living area are also visually linked through the use of "Black Rust" feature panels in their joinery and cleverly designed lighting.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Architect: Melissa M Fleming - Metroworks Architects Pty Ltd
Builder: Michael Hill - Neumode Design & Construction Pty Ltd
Project Manager: Gerard Linden - Neumode Design & Construction Pty Ltd
Joiner: Melbourne Contemporary Kitchens
Project Brief
The master bedroom suite located at the front of the house, includes a private ensuite overlooking the landscaped garden. The ensuite features a wc and stepless shower, both concealed behind a central, double vanity unit. The master suite also includes a generous walk-in robe, finished in Sandblasted Brindle Oak veneer. Joinery within the bedroom links the colours of the walk-in robe joinery and highlights the angled walls and corner glazing.
A cantilevered, ironbark and steel stair leads up to the first floor. There is a large rumpus room which is separated from the stairwell by a double-sided piece of joinery - on one side a small kitchenette, on the other a study area for the children.
The pool room includes a stunning bar with rich red glass splashback and LED lighting. Cleverly concealed behind joinery doors in the bar is access to a 2000 bottle wine cellar located under the floor of the pool room.
An entertainer's kitchen, butler's pantry and laundry link together to complete the ground floor level. The colours and finishes throughout these rooms are consistent and a long "splashback window" between the benchtop and overhead cupboards links the spaces together.
Project Need
A large home can sometimes appear too large, making it cold and unwelcoming. It was important that this project be a home as well as a beautiful a piece of architecture.
In this home, materials and finishes have been carefully selected to be both practical and also to add visual warmth:
- Earth tones in the raw, natural stone selected for the feature fin wall - highlighted by warm-white LED lighting.
- A beautiful, polished, solid Ironbark floor runs throughout the ground floor level, and the same timber used for the stairs.
- Textured "Black Rust" feature panels (Axolotyl) have been used in the kitchen and living area joinery - highlighted by LED strip lighting and aluminium inset strips to prevent them from looking too heavy.
- Rich chocolate brown coloured veneer was selected for bedroom joinery, complemented by a warm, 100% wool carpet.
- Earthy coloured tiles have been selected for the bathrooms.
Design Challenge
One key challenge this project presented was to get as much natural light as possible throughout a house with such a large footprint. This was achieved a number of ways:
- Highlight glazing throughout the house - including through clerestory windows in the first floor rumpus room and feature glazing above the entrance and stairs.
- Feature cavity sliding doors throughout the ground floor are of stained solid timber with inset obscure glass panels - making the oversized doors appear lighter and allow transfer of natural light from space to space.
And in smaller ways:
- The ensuite shower has two walls of obscure glass - allowing it to "borrow" natural light from the master bedroom.
– The alfresco area includes a nearly black ceiling that "disappears" into the night sky, but in the day the space is lit by two skylights in the roof.
- Corner glazing used in key locations (such as the master bedroom, ensuite and living area) to maximise natural light and link interior and exterior spaces.
– Operable glass wall between pool room & dining so that both spaces share natural light.
Sustainability
Being mindful of the environment and the issue of water restrictions in Victoria, the home includes a solar-powered hot water system and an underground 20,000 litre water tank: a far cry from the original home on the site - a 1930’s brick house with outdated and inefficient plumbing.
The latest in communication technology was also installed in the home, with a C-Bus lighting system to reduce energy demands as well as a Sonos music system and a Bang Oulfsen video/TV system.
The home is access via keyless entry technology. The front door intercom is available to be used via the I-pad control systems. A Smart security camera shows great colour coverage during the day and infrared visibility when it is dark.
Reconstituted quartz stone benchtops used throughout - more robust and ecologically sustainable than natural stone equivalent.
Interior Design - Residential
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes and aesthetic presentation. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
More Details