Driven by the client’s desire for a characterful home unfamiliar to the sweeping streets of one of Melbourne’s most desirable suburbs, Studio Tate and Tecture came together to conceive a family home of both function and flare. The result is a generous family home comprising three-bedrooms, private guest suite, dual living zones, family rumpus, study, outdoor dining, pool and pool house.

Studio Tate’s interior intelligently echoes the exterior, finding inspiration in simple but effective forms that balance pragmatism with personality, and ensure connection, inside and out. The exterior brickwork is mirrored in the living room hearth, calling on the same material, while additional architectural finishes such as textured wall tiles and graphic terrazzo enhance the sense of harmony.

Conceived as a house fuelled by family life, penetration of natural light was essential. Expansive glazing and large, strategically placed windows offer connection to the exterior landscape and fill the open plan living, dining and kitchen with vast swathes of light. Skylights and an immense void above the dining area enhance a connection to the elements, further blurring the line between the interior and exterior, and allowing the residents to bask in the luxury of space.

With two adjacent living zones on the ground floor, a sunken lounge in the secondary space encourages intimacy, distinguishing its function from the primary open plan space. Navy carpet, soft grey paint and bold furniture and artwork complete the sense of a subterranean cocoon. Steel-framed fluted glass doors separate the two spaces; a contemporary interpretation of traditional glazed internal passages, and a nod to the recurring themes of pattern and texture.