a throw away comment by one half of our clients, a gentleman in his late 70’s and an artist of national if not international standing, that he’d never had a house designed for him, for them, a home... resonated with us

his excitement and expectation of the possibilities was palpable

as was the gentle understanding that time to experience this home was not open ended
it reinforced the precious opportunity a client gifts their architectanother inciteful ‘thought out loud’ moment was that the building should be designed such that it could be embraced by the neighbourhood

our role was to gift the community a beautiful building

given a triangular site bounded on two sides by pedestrian traffic, this makes for pleasing a lot of people

then we have a not insubstantial brief for a not insubstantial home including basement, lift, carstacker and separate studio

this then brings us to the very disparate personal tastes of our clients

one likes high volumes
one likes intimate volumes
one is a minimalist
the other a collector of things… natural, textured, patina, a love of objects with history, the scratches, and bruises of a past

with both wanting an abundance of natural light, while loving the play of shadow
wanting the inside to seamlessly shift to the outside while remaining private to the teams of passers by

and we have the trophies of a well lived life

the books, the art, the furniture, the collections, the objects, the records, the dog, the visiting family, the pots, the pans, the l can’t throw this away, the heirlooms, the trophies
all needing a space, a home

all this on an awkward block… with height restrictions and a flood level for good measure
backing onto a park filled with substantial gums and rowdy galahs

knowing that site and program were not the greatest of bedfellows, we chose our consultants carefully

a builder not afraid of detail, materiality, or tight sites

an engineer who would work closely with uswe discussed the landscaping from the very outset of the project
we measured and catalogued the entire list of the client’s objects

as is usual the plan works hard to resolve our constraints
to provide privacy from the passing parade, while presenting a generous, homely aesthetic on all sides

responding to and borrowing fro
creating vistas from room to room over fledgling landscaped spaces
the built form responds directly to place

and the materiality which quietly mimics the colour and textures of parkland to its northern flank, is carried through internally

and the tall / small thing…. well, we played with height throughout

using coffered ceilings to the primary living spaces to mediate the expectations of both clients
from a corner of the room, one registers the bottom of the coffers, giving a cosy, intimate feel
moving through the room the height of the ceiling becomes apparent… problem solved