Sometimes, the best things — or diamonds, as the saying goes — are formed under pressure.

This Mount Hotham holiday home is such a case. With a fixed deadline to complete the alpine new build before the snowfall season arrived, a collaborative effort between the owners, Toppo Architects, Van Heek Construction and Scaffold, and interior designer Kim Kneipp of Kim Kneipp Studio saw it come together in just nine months.

‘The builders operated with incredible efficiency due to the pressure of completing the home before heavy snowfall arrived,’ says Kim. ‘There were many moments where we would propose an adjustment only to discover construction had already progressed beyond the point of change, which meant the interiors evolved through a constant progress of adaptation and responsiveness to live site conditions.’

‘Decisions were made intuitively and collaboratively in real time, creating a home that feels grounded in both the realities of alpine living, and the daily rituals of how the clients wanted to live.’

Inspired by their love of ski and onsen life in Japan, the owners briefed Kim Kneipp Studio to create an alpine retreat that would enable adventurous ski holidays, aswell as space to unwind and relax.

With this in mind, Kim conceived a layout that challenged ‘conventional planning hierarchies’. Most significant was the positioning of the kitchen and dining area to enjoy the home’s prime mountain outlook – with spaces for gathering, food prep, and jigsaw puzzles, amongst the stunning landscape.

The lounge, on the other hand, sits in a more inward facing pocket of the home, where ‘reduced glazing and lower ceilings create a softer, more cocooning atmosphere, removed from neighbouring properties,’ says Kim.

A custom-built sofa sits snuggly in the corner of the lounge, with a pop-out window designed specifically to connect as an extension of the in-built seating.

The ground floor, which was initially planned as an ‘apres-ski zone centered around a pool table and entertaining space’ evolved instead into a ‘wellness level’ combining bathing, heat, rest and recovery, inspired by onsen culture and alpine retreat rituals.

The interiors also came together in response to the landscape, rather than a thematic reinvention of it. Kim explains, ‘We focused on tonal restraint, tactile depth, and sensory atmosphere.

The changing qualities of light, snow, mist and timbered national parkland became important references… During winter the landscape outside becomes intensely bright and exposed, so we wanted the interiors to feel cocooning and protective by comparison.’

Many of the finishes, therefore, were selected for the way in which they absorb light and soften acoustics. They also needed to be durable enough to withstand snow gear, moisture, temperature shifts and large groups moving through the house.

The resulting palette of smoked timber, natural stone, textured tiles, oxidised metal finishes and deep tonal spaces achieves this with a grounding sense of warmth.

‘The project feels successful because it resists becoming overly polished or performative,’ says Kim. ‘There is a quietness and honesty to the interiors that feels deeply connected to both the landscape and the rhythms of alpine living.’

After fifteen years spent living between New York, Miami and Paris, the owners of this 1990s Alexandria townhouse were finally ready to return to the home they’d long rented out while living overseas.

The townhouse, however, was not ready. ‘It was solid in structure and unremarkable in character,’ says interior designer Anna-Carin McNamara.

A decade as a rental had left the interiors feeling anonymous, with tired finishes, flat light and rooms that turned inward rather than outward.

‘The one thing it had was a central atrium that cut through the middle of the building and pulled daylight deep into the plan,’ says Anna-Carin. ‘That atrium was the beginning of the whole project.’

Rather than extending the townhouse, the team worked carefully within the existing footprint, preserving the structure and rethinking the home through light, materiality and landscape.

The goal wasn’t to impose a particular style, but to create an atmosphere — a home that felt luminous, personal and quietly layered enough to hold the couple’s extensive collection of art, furniture and ceramics gathered across years of living internationally.

Central to achieving that feeling was the garden. ‘In a townhouse, outdoor space is limited, and therefore precious,’ says Anna-Cairn. ‘The garden was integral from the beginning, not an afterthought.’

Working alongside Asher from The Garden Social, they focussed less on creating a defined outdoor room, and more on blurring the edges between inside and out.

Planting was designed to press softly against windows, filter light into the interiors and create shifting moments of shadow and greenery throughout the day.

From almost every vantage point in the home, there’s a sense of living alongside the garden rather than merely looking at it.

‘There are moments in the home where you are not entirely sure where the interior ends and the garden begins,’ says Anna-Carin. ‘Which is precisely what we were after.’

This connection to nature has also shaped the home’s restrained material palette. Warm white walls shift gently with the changing light, while timber, stone and plaster bring texture. Colour arrives through the owner’s collection or art, ceramics and furniture, accumulated from their years living overseas.

In fact, the entire renovation was completed while the couple were still living overseas, with every decision resolved remotely. By the time they returned to Australia, the home was fully finished — down to the placement of every object shipped back from abroad.

With large rooms, a garage, natural light and a north-facing balcony, this Art Deco apartment in Newcastle ticked a lot of boxes for Molly Urquhart and her partner Jordan.

The downside was that its charm had been lost after a series of patchy, cosmetic renovations, with a dark palette that did a disservice to the 1940s building’s heritage flair.

‘We’re so grateful none of the previous owners painted over the original timber features or fireplace,’ Molly says.

‘As soon as we walked in the front door on the inspection and craned our heads to the kitchen, it was obvious the walls needed to go. It seemed very easy and straightforward then, of course, but the practicalities and realities came later.’

What they didn’t realise is that the 1940s block, comprising just four homes inside, was classified as a Class 2 building, which meant any changes were required to meet strict building codes, with meticulous documentation from registered practitioners and approvals from body corporate.

‘Just about every trade under the sun had to be engaged, and getting one’s ducks in a row is critical,’ Molly says upon reflection.

‘Everyone says it, and it’s true: a lot of money can be sunk into invisible investments. But the impact of well-done essentials like insulation, a functioning hot water system, and water filtration is huge.’

The plumbing and the wiring were all updated, and most of the apartment was repainted. Determined still to turn the living, dining and kitchen into an open-plan area, the couple engaged architects Archisoul for the reconfiguration, removing two hallway walls and old doorways that had made the 94-square-metre apartment feel ‘boxed in’.

With Jordan stepping up as the effective project manager for the renovation, Molly designed the refreshed interiors, taking cues from the building’s palette of cream and warm timbers.

In the kitchen, a new butter yellow tiled splashback is paired with resurfaced cabinetry — something that initially seemed like a ‘thrifty way’ of updating the existing fit-out, but finding the right contractors to tackle the singular task was a challenge.

While cosy new cork flooring was installed throughout, the retro floor and wall tiles were able to be retained in the bathroom, alongside glorious retro details like the reeded-glass doors and stepped cornices.

The finished renovation is a playful ode to the apartment’s past, with a contemporary character and livability that it required for the future. But there’s no denying it was a huge learning curve for Molly and Jordan, who encourage any first-time renovators to work with their home’s existing services as much as possible, being especially careful not to ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater’.

‘Though we now have no regrets and are very happy with the outcome, had we known what was required for a Class 2 renovation in the beginning, we may have thought twice!’

Undeniable ‘kookiness and charm’ — among other things — drew interior designer Will Kelly to this 1960s apartment six years ago.

‘The initial draw was its location on a hill — rather unique in Melbourne — and the design of the building,’ he explains. ‘Built in the late 60s, it was a real modern departure from typical apartment buildings at the time. With east-facing balconies, external entries and central courtyards, there is a great ease to living here.’

The Northcote unit hit all of Will’s wishlist: a sense of character, liveable proportions, great light, and a sense of solidity. But its cramped, charcoal-and-white interior left much to be desired.

Not deterred by cosmetic details, he purchased the home and within two years had completely gutted and rebuilt the 40-square-metre apartment — reconfiguring the walls and installing new kitchen joinery, including a wall-mounted counter (lighter and more space-saving than a traditional island).

These changes not only opened up space for both a dining and living area, but also allowed Will to increase functionality with clever storage solutions, like the tall cupboard that conceals the front door-facing oven (deliberately out of sight from the living area), and the mirrored cupboard that allows the fridge to disappear into the wall.

‘I enjoy how the mirrored door can be left open at different angles to reflect the trees and view over the balcony, or capture northern light coming through the kitchen window,’ says Will.

He also completely transformed the apartment’s bathroom with sophisticated olive-green tiles, reconfigured fittings and an integrated laundry.

In place of the old carpet, grey Forbo Marmoleum flooring now provides a unifying base to the whole apartment with a ‘warmer and softer — physically and acoustically — liveability than polished concrete,’ explains Will.

New 2-Pac grey-blue kitchen cabinetry and the olive-green bathroom introduce layers of colour, accented by the original shiny green front door. Together with the rendered walls, stainless steel bench and range hood, and mirrored door, the apartment feels bright and calming, yet would never be described as ‘beige’.

Beyond the apartment’s obvious aesthetic appeal, Will says the ability to ‘pop in and out of the city; access Westgarth village shops, bars, cafes and cinema; and slip to the Merri-Creek trail and Yarra Bend parklands within minutes,’ makes it a great place to live.

He’s off to work his design magic on a new project now, leaving his beloved Northcote apartment in the hands of new owners to enjoy its many perks.

10/62 Cunningham Street, Northcote, VIC, is listed for sale with Alicia Cannizzaro and David Sanguinedo from Jellis Craig. 

When stylist Tess Newman-Morris first laid eyes on Fairweather — a 108 square-metre shack on ‘the edge of the world’, Bruny Island, Tasmania — she knew just how special it was.

‘I had recently lost a friend to a very sudden illness, and what she had longed for was a simple life by the sea. I was overcome with gratitude… and so grateful for life itself,’ she explains.

Tess and her husband Jack purchased the charming property and set about completing an ‘un-renovation’.

She explains, ‘We wanted to return the shack to a simplified, authentic version of itself.’

Built in 1906, the shack was originally green and yellow, had a carpeted verandah, plastic blinds, a laminate kitchen with blue lino, yellow carpet throughout, and tiny postage-stamp windows. It had charm, but even more potential.

Tess and Jack stripped it all back, revealing hardwood timber floors, Baltic pine lining boards and bark-covered ceiling beams.

The pair collected salvaged materials in Victoria, packed their trailer full and on various occasions, drove the nearly 24-hour trip to the remote island to complete most of the renovations themselves.

They installed salvaged windows and French doors; hand-built the kitchen and living room shelving from reclaimed rafters; re-wired, re-stumped, re-clad; and eventually landscaped and built a low-maintenance garden.

Tess’ grand plans for creating an interior filled with pale blue walls, timber ship models, concrete pelicans, colourful kilims and even a surfboard wrapped in sisal rope faded away the more time she spent in it.

‘I just kept removing things,’ she explains. ‘The interiors needed to entirely honour the place. Less is more in this case… the shack has ended up being simple, so your eye can be at ease.’

What started as a hopeful six-month renovation plan was finally finished, seven years later.

‘The remote nature of our island means when you run out of screws or sandpaper, it’s two boat rides and a five-hour round-trip to Bunnings,’ says Tess.

Trades are also hard to come by or in high demand. ‘It was a slow process, and we were learning skills on the job, but in the end it felt right,’ she says. ‘We’re not great at rushing, or compromising, and we did want an adventure after all!’

Now, every few months, she and Jack pop down to Fairweather together, and come summer, they pack up the car with family, food and ‘Christmas loot’ to spend six precious weeks at their quiet retreat.

‘It’s our greatest joy to recalibrate ourselves back onto island time and reconnect with the wonderful Bruny community,’ says Tess. ‘The feeling you get from a remote location like this is addictive, nature is king, and reverence comes easily.’

Recently, Tess and Jack have opened up Fairweather as a stay, so others can also enjoy the beautiful connection to nature the remote shack offers.

For years, Louise and John Bastiras would always detour to drive back this quirky townhouse development in Elsternwick.

Designed by architect Harold David Shafer and built in 1973, the homes stand out as one of few brutalist-style buildings in the inner south-eastern Melbourne suburb. Each property has a prominent facade, characterised by projecting ‘window hoods’ or ‘organ pipes’, framing narrow sliding openable windows that span the full building height.

When Louise and John saw one of the homes for sale, they didn’t hesitate. ‘We couldn’t believe we had the opportunity to purchase one of the apartments,’ says Louise. ‘Always being huge fans of brutalist architecture, we were so excited to refurbish this perfect three-bedroom, north-facing apartment with a terrific courtyard and garden.’

They moved in about 10 years ago, and reworked the interior to suit their taste and lifestyle as new parents. ‘Nothing was left untouched,’ says Louise. ‘John redesigned everything: the kitchen, the bathrooms, the living spaces, the ceilings, the floors. We also completely reimagined the outdoor areas.’

Throughout the process, Louise and John were cognisant of the home’s architectural significance and honouring its spirit. ‘The challenge with a building like this is that you are always in conversation with the original architecture. You cannot impose on it. You have to listen to it and respond,’ explains Louise.

‘We wanted the home to feel considered at every level: the material under your hand, the weight of a piece of furniture, the way light moves through the space across the course of a day.

‘We were influenced by classic design principles — honest materials, functional beauty, nothing wasted — combined with the mid-century spirit of the building itself.’

New materials are contemporary, yet sympathetic to Harold’s original design, prioritising raw, tactile surfaces: brick tiled floors, American white ash joinery, and white ash ceilings. Strong angles across the custom shower screen, sculptural seating, and lighting reference the building’s distinct facade.

‘Every material was chosen for its honesty and its warmth. Nothing is trying to make a statement on its own — everything works together to create a particular feeling,’ says Louise. ‘We wanted it to feel like somewhere you exhale the moment you walk in.’

Naturally, as the founders of In Good Company, the couple have many items from their design store at home, as well as beloved 20th century furniture, which match the craftsmanship of the build. Pieces by Vitra, Muuto, Gubi, Kvadrat, String Furniture, Hay, and &Tradition all feel at home here, alongside a dining table John (aka Studio Bastiras) designed and made specifically for the space. He also designed the custom-made joinery throughout.

Louise and John’s son Oscar, now 11, was one-year-old when they moved into this home. ‘He has grown up entirely within these walls — learned to walk here, started school from here, become himself here. Watching that happen inside a space John designed entirely has been one of the great privileges of our life together,’ says Louise.

Now a slightly older family, they are ready for the next chapter —  a new space to pour themselves into and make entirely their own. Wherever they go, the Bastiras family will always look back fondly at their time in this Elsternwick home, which has recently been heritage protected.

‘This building deserves to be known. Harold Shafer created something genuinely remarkable in Elsternwick in the early 1970s and it has stood the test of time completely,’ says Louise.

‘Whoever lives here next is inheriting something special: a home that has been loved, considered, and cared for at every level.’

Locki Humphrey

While Melbourne-based furniture and object designer Locki Humphrey first dabbled with furniture design during the pandemic (when they taught themselves how to do digital 3D modelling), they officially launched their practice about a year ago. Now, they’re one of the rising stars of our design scene, having just featured in five different MDW shows.

Texture is the main character of Locki’s pieces, which range from colourful chairs overlaid with woven cord, to coffee tables with tactile leather tassels, and so much more.

locki.au

Georgina Davies

Based in Byron Bay, interior designer Georgina Davies started designing furniture and objects as a creative outlet where she could explore materials and ideas on her own terms.

Her pieces are delicate and distinctive, with an emphasis on the beauty of handmade irregularities. Georgina is all about exploring materials that are ‘honest and industrial’; taking something typically overlooked and treating it with care and intention to create bookshelves, lighting, and homewares.

georgegeorgegeorge.work

Ka Ra Studio

Katrina Ramm started out as an interior designer, before discovering her true passion was in actually in designing and making playful furniture. She launched Ka Ra Studio in 2022.

Mostly working with Australian timbers, Katrina channels inspiration from nostalgic references (think vintage toys and childhood memories) into furniture bursting with character — like a table with exaggerated ‘shoes’ or a smiling sideboard.

ka-ra.studio

Sean Brickhill

You might not know it, but we bet you’ve come across Sean Brickhill’s intricate woodwork before (maybe even on the cover of The Design Files Magazine Issue 03!)

After falling into a furniture design course by default at age 18, Sean Brickhill now sells his bespoke woodwork in stores like Ma House, pépite, and Bow + Arrow, and crafts each piece out of his Coburg North studio. A true creative, he’s always working on a new project, whether that be a new exhibition for MDW or curating rare art and design books for his project, First Editions Library.

seanbrickhill.com

Curtis Bloxidge

To say Curtis Bloxidge is an experienced maker would be an understatement. He apprenticed as a cabinet and furniture maker almost two decades ago, before spending his 20s building sets for the theatre industry, but it wasn’t until COVID that he returned to his roots in furniture design.

Now running his own practice from Melbourne, Curtis’ work merges classic concepts and subtle references from the natural world to create designs with an overwhelming honesty in their minimalistic forms.

curtisbloxsidge.com

AND Studio

At the MDW 100 Chairs exhibition, an impeccably crafted timber chair (with the ability to shift between seating and side table) caught my eye. It turns out to be one of the debut designs from emerging practice AND Studio — a new venture by designer-maker friends Samantha Duffee and Julian Allen.

The duo — who met while studying at RMIT — are combining their years of experience working for other makers to create their own pieces for sale with a special focus on exploration. No form or material is off limits.

we.are.and

Carl Broesen Studio

Starting out as a concept designer and fabricator alongside acclaimed designers like Adam Goodrum, industrial designer and maker Carl Broesen has since made a name for himself.

Often returning to durable materials like stainless steel or textile waste (both of which feature in his boundary-pushing Loom Lounge), Carl’s overarching ethos is all about ‘making things well and making them last’.

carlbroesenstudio.com

Space-man Studio

Creative director Lachlan Mackay cut his teeth designing custom furniture with his friend Veronica Paiva (founder at Studio Blank) in the evenings after his 9-to-5 job for years. Eventually, when interior designer Sally Caroline engaged his help in curating her first-ever product collection to life, Lachlan decided to go all in.

Now working under Space-man Studio, Lachlan frequently collaborates on furniture, objects, lighting, retail, and art, in addition to bringing his own novel and emotive pieces to life!

space-man.studio

Bel Williams

Before starting her own studio a few years ago, multidisciplinary designer Bel Williams worked in the design team at Jardan with ‘shoemaking and sculpting internships dotted in between’.

Working across furniture, lighting and interiors, Bel’s sculptural pieces often begin with sourcing collected offcuts and salvaged materials. Having experimented with car engine parts, ceiling joists from factories, and even inners from old sofas, these unconventional materials help drive her fresh concepts and distinctive design language.

belwilliams.com

Claire Markwick-Smith

Claire Markwick-Smith is an interior, spatial, and object designer based between South Australia and Los Angeles.

Her interest in furniture design initially evolved out of the ‘disconnect’ she’d experienced as an interior designer. Seeking a closer understanding of materials and construction processes, she undertook a year-long metal fabrication residency and has since produced a series of distinctive, metallic pieces that instantly catch your eye.

clairemarkwicksmith.com

Malli

With a diploma in industrial design, a certificate in metal fabrication, and years of working with steel, it’s fair to say Guthike Watawala is an expert at his craft.

The Melbourne-based designer, who goes by Goodie, has just launched a new furniture brand, Malli — revealing a debut collection of meticulously made stainless-steel furniture designed to fit into any environment.

malli.com.au

Stepping into this 1970s home is like stepping back in time — that’s the point.

Cedar House, owned by a retired couple who relocated to Geelong from Melbourne to be closer to family, was thoughtfully renovated with the help of Belső Design Studio to look just as it always did — but with modern-day functionality.

‘There’s so much beauty in preserving original character and allowing homes to tell their story,’ says Kaylene Bryce, Belső Design Studio founder and design director. ‘A renovation doesn’t always need to completely reinvent a space, sometimes the most successful outcomes come from carefully refining and celebrating what’s already there.’

This particular home had great bones — they normally do — but its main shortcomings were functionality and comfort; the kitchen no longer worked well for modern living; lighting was dated and inefficient; the en suite featured a large spa bath that ‘needed to go’; and the heating and cooling needed significant improvement.

However, none of this required the home’s layout to change. ‘One of the beautiful things about this home was that the original floor plan worked really well,’ explains Kaylene.

Instead, they focused on restoring and refreshing the existing spaces, true to the home’s original design.

For this, Kaylene and her team looked to the home’s features — most notably the curtains, floor tiles and kitchen splashback, which all remain installed in the home.

‘Retaining the mosaic floor tiles and original splashback tiles was incredibly important to both the clients and the project as a whole,’ says Kaylene.

The owners worked closely with the builders to salvage and clean all the tiles during the kitchen demolition so they could be reinstalled later.

Their efforts weren’t in vain, the new kitchen is filled with warmth and familiarity with its laminate benchtop, circular island and palette of earthy oranges, rich browns and textural finishes.

‘Small gestures like that helped the renovation feel less like a replacement and more like an evolution of what was already there,’ explains Kaylene.

The rest of the home underwent a similar nostalgic treatment; the bathroom was totally transformed with new tiles, cabinetry, lighting and shower; the living spaces had new carpet installed; and furniture was carefully selected with most pieces patiently sourced from second-hand or vintage stores.

The ‘new’ home doesn’t look new at all, which makes it all the more impressive.

‘I hope projects like Cedar House encourage people to see the value in working with what already exists rather than immediately stripping everything away,’ says Kaylene.

We couldn’t agree more.

Some say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But when it comes to bringing an old house back to life, Hayman + Charlton Architects prove it’s not an impossible task — if you take the right approach.

A couple in their 30s approached the architects after purchasing a 1980s house in Currumbin with an ambitious vision to transform the ‘ugly duckling’ into a place where they could raise their young family long term. Importantly, it had to be done on a modest budget.

‘Everything was pink. Pink carpeted floors, pink walls, pink cabinetry, pink ceilings,’ Hayman + Charlton Architects director Craig Hayman says.

‘The original house was typical of many houses built in the Gold Coast in the 1980s; an uninsulated brick veneer box that was not designed specifically for the site.’

‘This meant that the house did not take advantage of the views and breezes offered by the site, and the house was located right in the centre rather than to one side to allow for a better potential relationship with the garden.’

The brief focused on opening up the existing structure by removing internal walls, incorporating views of the lush surrounds, and improving the house’s thermal performance. They also wanted to convert the garage in their home’s undercroft into a self-contained unit, where they could host family or even a renter.

‘The existing roof and brick veneer walls were largely retained to minimise construction cost. The interior linings of the walls were stripped and resurfaced, and new insulation was added to walls, floors and ceiling,’ Craig adds.

‘Where bricks were removed, they were carefully cleaned by hand by the clients to be reused in blocking up openings, such as the original garage door openings.’

In repurposing the ground level of the home, which now contains its own living space, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom, the architects created a new pergola entry sequence and carport for the upper level. This framework also provided a physical framework for the landscaping — something that has become a key component of the redesign, thanks to the family’s love of gardening.

Inside, a somewhat pared-back material palette of oak floors, terrazzo tiles, and white walls helps draw attention to the home’s coastal setting. While the clients originally wanted to render or paint the external brickwork, Hayman + Charlton Architects proposed encasing the house in vertical aluminium slats.

Not only was this a more attractive option, but it also served a purpose: offering much-needed shade from the northwestern sun.

‘Currumbin is hot and humid for most of the year, with the bright sunshine broken by frequent and sometimes dramatic rainstorms. The challenges posed by this climate are houses getting too hot; houses getting damp or mouldy; insects during summer; and houses getting stuffy if the wind requires windows to be shut,’ Craig says.

‘In the renovation, we prioritised really good insulation and vapour management in the walls, ceiling, and floor. We also increased cross ventilation by introducing louvres across different points of the house that could be left open for cross ventilation regardless of the wind direction, with insect mesh allowing windows to be open.’

Reinventing the house’s quirks did take some compromise; the bedrooms and bathrooms are ‘on the smaller side’; the original low ceilings were retained to keep costs down; and the generous nature of the open-plan living area is in large part thanks to the expansive undercover deck that ‘borrows’ space from the outdoors, with views overlooking lush treetops.

The construction ended up costing about $814,000, with the build taking about 13 months to complete. But the result has been lauded by the owners and architects, and even earned the practice the People’s Choice Award and a commendation at the Australian Institute of Architects regional awards.

‘Having walked through the original all-pink home that we nicknamed the Pink Pony Club, and now seeing the comfortable, functional, calm house that suits this family, it’s a satisfying feeling that makes the effort of being an architect worthwhile,’ Craig says.

In a time when many suburban houses prioritise amenities like butler’s pantries, double garages, and even cinema rooms, this Northcote family home takes a more grounded approach. Literally and metaphorically.

The house itself is compact, defined by a singular palette of reclaimed timber. But the most spectacular feature is the sloping roof covered by a cascade of beautiful native planting that blurs the lines between nature and built environment.

It all started with the desire for a larger garden. The owners, a couple with three young children who’d lived on the site since 2012, approached architects Prior Barraclough in the hope of reimagining their home to be more environmentally responsive.

Most of all, they were seeking more green spaces, and a stronger connection to their cul-de-sac, which transforms ‘each afternoon and weekend into a lively communal space, animated by neighbourhood children.’

‘A lengthy design process was undertaken to explore retention of the existing house; however, it was ultimately determined that retaining the structure was not feasible,’ Prior Barraclough director Michael Barraclough says.

Instead, they designed a new 190-square-metre dwelling with a habitable green roof, effectively doubling the site’s usable outdoor space.

‘From above, the entire site now reads as a continuous, expansive garden,’ Michael says.

With no front fence, the house deliberately invites interaction with the streetscape, as stairs lead up to the rooftop platform elevated above surrounding fences and rooflines, offering uninterrupted views in all directions without the need for overlooking screens.

There was no formal landscape plan; the garden evolved organically in the care of the clients, who also carefully selected natives and vegetables to enhance biodiversity.

To accommodate the functions of the former two-storey house in just one level, the floorplan is efficiently arranged in a ‘dumbbell configuration’, comprising four modest rooms at the centre flanked by two larger living areas on opposite ends of the block.

The street-facing space is slightly below street level, creating a multi-functional zone with a sunken lounge that can serve as a library, study, entry gallery and occasional sleeping area for children’s sleepovers. Meanwhile, the rear contains an open-plan kitchen, living, and dining room, oriented towards the backyard.

‘The design deliberately resists several suburban conventions typically included in an architectural brief: there is no ensuite for every bedroom, no walk-in pantry, no garage, and no front fence. Instead, the architecture privileges openness, restraint, and community connection over domestic excess’, Michael says.

This ethos also extends to the impeccable interior detailing. From floor to ceiling, the interiors are lined in various timber profiles, forming integrated pulls, hooks, shelving and desks, in addition to large sliding panels — a detail that required extensive testing and development.

‘One of the greatest challenges was developing the operable facade system for the east and west elevations. The system consists of sliding timber-lined panels, seamlessly integrated into the east and west facades, which provide nuanced control of light, ventilation, and privacy,’ Michael says.

These thoughtful elements combine to create something masterful: a home that stays cool in summer, warm in winter, and is inextricably connected to its environment.