architecture

The real estate market has been hot hot HOT at the moment with so many great properties for sale, but this has to be one of the best we’ve seen recently!

Built in 1957, this North Balwyn home has impeccable wood detailing, soaring ceilings and panoramic greenery all around it! The design also includes so many unique architectural features, including *that* floating study. As Trish Callan from Modernist Australia said on Instagram, ‘We are not worthy!’

Read more of her expert take below.

This 1960 Ivanhoe East house, originally designed by architects Hipwell, Weight & Mason, was close to perfection upon its completion. Subsequent ‘90s renovations unfortunately compromised its design integrity, leading to a recent interior restoration by Pop Architecture. 

Looking to the original house plans for inspiration, Pop Architecture enhanced the home’s spirit by removing superfluous details and introducing subtle modern materials. The home’s leafy outlook to the Yarra River was also reinstated, once again serving as the home’s intended focal point. 

The Gala House in Orange, New South Wales, by PW Studio is the regional practice’s first ever project and is designed as a case study house for a new style of suburban living.

Rather than secreted private quarters tucked at the front of a footprint opening to an open-plan communal zone at the rear, the rooms are split across three separate pavilions, allowing for maximum integration of light and greenery, plus a focus on craftsmanship and materiality.

The clients of this home loved a previous project by Sydney based architects Clayton Orszaczky so much, they engaged the same design team to remotely create their new house, from the other side of the country!

The resulting home in Cottesloe, WA, draws on the same details and principles as Clayton Orszaczky’s Bondi project, while being unique to the requirements of its Western Australia site and environment.

Spaces are bathed in light from almost all directions, revealing soft materiality and detail.

Directors of Other Architects, Grace Mortlock and David Neustein, describe the quintessential modern Australian country house as a ‘machine for living in’ that dramatises the idea of dwelling in the landscape, by exaggerating the harshness and remoteness of its setting. 

Their recent project, Highlands House, offers a deliberately different experience. Rather than defined rooms, this project adopts an older and more universal mode of country living, where generations of people have lived in simple, open structures. 

The modestly sized home seeks not to be a bold architectural statement, but simply, part of the fabric of ordinary life – exactly as Other Architects intended. 

Creating an inner-city Melbourne home akin to the mountain ranges of rural New Zealand, or the west coast beaches of South Australia sounds like an impossible brief, but has been remarkably achieved in this incredible house designed by Architecture Architecture.

Drawing on the qualities of these vast landscapes, the Victorian house in Brunswick has been overhauled and extended to offer subtle shifts in light, texture, and views. 

The completed house has a sense of natural ease, unfolding like a stroll through the garden.

Despite the tactility, materiality and masterful configuration required to connect two previously detached cottages into one single residence, the real feat of The Hamilton Courtyard by Anthrosite is its ability to inject greenery into nearly every aspect of the home.

The final design for this Newcastle family home prompts a U-shaped building to hug a central courtyard, making for a home that not only integrates old and new elements, but seamlessly connects indoors and out.

 The brief for this Bondi apartment renovation was relatively simple: turn a drab space into a light-filled home, with cues to the local area and beach vibe. 

Studio Weave Architects achieved this and more, designing a considered material palette and space-spacing measures throughout the apartment. Elevated joinery with pastel pink accents feels more like furniture, creating a relaxed yet sophisticated space for living an entertaining.

Sally McGarry grew up in the Fenner House – a significant 1950s house designed by Robin Boyd in Canberra’s Red Hill – that inspired her own family home, Las Palmas. 

Designed by DUO Architects in association with Davis Architects, the Byron Bay hinterland property is an entirely new build that captures the mid-century style of Boyd’s original, while responding to its very different site.

The property is home to Sally, her husband Matt, and three boys, and is also available to rent part-time as accommodation.

Following our explainers on working with landscape designers, interior designers, and architects, today we’re shining a light on how to work with builders!

Whether you’re renovating or creating a new home from scratch, knowing how to find and work cooperatively with a builder is essential to your project’s success (and mental state along the way!)

In partnership with Reece, we asked builders  Never Stop Group, Basis Builders, Visioneer Builders, and BuildHer Collective, the answers to their most frequently asked questions, as well as advice from a home owner who’s been there.

From 1947 to the late ‘70s, the Small Homes Service (SHS) provided an affordable option for Victorians interested in an architect-designed house. Consumers could choose from a range of architect plans published in The Age (complete with working drawings and specifications), purchase them for a modest price, and have these constructed by a builder. 

The first SHS director, Robin Boyd, estimated at one stage around 40% of new homes in Melbourne were being built through the service.

The number of architect-designed homes has since dropped to an estimated 5% nationally – a figure that Architopia is hoping to change. Adopting a similar model to the SHS, the online platform allows individuals to purchase an architectural house design for a flat fee.

Speaking to founders Robert Duffield, Sophie Lindblom-Taylor, and Leon Morton, we learned what inspired this innovative model.

The footprint of this Victorian terrace hasn’t changed, and yet every inch of the Fitzroy North property was interrogated in a recent renovation.

Rather than extend the property, Architecture Architecture unlocked the potential of the existing structure and its backyard by cleverly integrating built-in furniture. 

The edges and interfaces of the project are now fully utilised, resulting in a more light-filled and spacious home. 

The only thing better than an original mid-century home, is an original mid-century home that’s been masterfully cared for. This terrace-wrapped apartment in Caulfield North has it all! From bamboo cabinetry, herringbone floors, a lush green outlook and steel-framed windows, this place is is the dream combo of heritage charm with respectful, modern updates. You had us at the coloured glass stairwell!

It’s currently for sale, so naturally we turned to Trish Callan of Modernist Australia for her expert take.