River House by Susi Leeton Architects + Interiors
Melbourne, Australia
Located on a river bend on Melbourne’s Yarra River, architect Susi Leeton reconsidered how the 1980s home could be ‘grown up’ for young adults, bring friends together and let visiting family comfortably stay. The River House negotiates five different levels that transition in different ways through steps, bridges and a lift. “Like the river, the building meanders through and down the site, down a garden path across a bridge to the front door,” Susi says.
The architecture is designed as a backdrop – to feel like you’re part of the lush landscape. Window frames are embedded to accentuate the view, maximising all aspects of the now-matured garden. “Every level and floor plane connects to Myles Baldwin’s garden,” she says. “We wanted the garden and views out to the river to take precedence over the architecture”. This allows the home to feel secluded while close to the city.
In revisiting the River House, Susi has continued to bring a sense of the slow-flowing river into all aspects of the design and experience of space. “Combining function with feeling”, Susi says, “allows you to exhale as soon as you walk through the door.”
River House by Susi Leeton Architects + Interiors | Photography by Lisa Cohen
River House by Susi Leeton Architects + Interiors | Photography by Lisa Cohen
River House by Susi Leeton Architects + Interiors | Photography by Lisa Cohen
The Boulevard by Archier | Photography by Sharyn Cairns
The Boulevard by Archier
Melbourne, Australia
Built into the hillside of Melbourne’s Yarra Flats, The Boulevard by Archier is a harmonious fusion of architecture and landscape. The Melbourne-based architecture studio designed the home as an extension of the surrounding parklands, cementing the home in nature. Thoughtfully concealed from street view, the home offers rare and unobstructed views of the scenic Yarra.
“The house is predominantly underground, overcoming the steep topography by building into the hillside, concealing the structure as much as possible, and using the garden to extend the Yarra Flats environment onto the site,” Archier design director Chris Gilbert explains. The rooftop garden, designed in collaboration with Ben Scott Garden Design, reinforces this connection by draping the roof in native vegetation, creating a constant connection to the landscape and ensuring environmental preservation.
Archier encouraged the clients to adopt a compact, efficient floor plan to minimise environmental impact. This design approach highlights the importance of indoor-outdoor connection, with operable glass framing scenic views and flooding the home with natural light. A material palette of concrete and stone allows for thermal cooling in the summer months. “As the house is buried in the landscape, the surrounding earth provides thermal support, enhancing both structural efficiency and sustainability,” Gilbert adds.
The Boulevard by Archier | Photography by Sharyn Cairns
Flinders House by Kennedy Nolan and Amanda Oliver Gardens
Flinders, Australia
Located in the seaside town of Flinders on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Flinders House by Kennedy Nolan and Amanda Oliver Gardens features an extensive rooftop garden that merges the home into its rugged coastal landscape. Planted primarily with Coastal Tussock grass (Poa poiformis), the rooftop garden ensures the landscape is experienced before the building itself comes into view.
As the rooftop planting merges with the natural garden below, the house will eventually become mostly obscured by the surrounding vegetation. This seamless integration of architecture and landscape reflects what architect Patrick Kennedy describes as ‘idealised’ nature.
“It’s about ensuring the garden sits well within the surrounding landscape and has a sense of place,” Oliver shares. The plantings, a thoughtful mix of indigenous, native, and exotic species, create a sense of natural harmony. Though still evolving, the garden is beginning to take shape, transforming Flinders House into a retreat informed by its environment’s beauty.
Flinders House by Kennedy Nolan and Amanda Oliver Gardens | Photography courtesy of Kennedy Nolan and Amanda Oliver Gardens
Flinders House by Kennedy Nolan and Amanda Oliver Gardens | Photography courtesy of Kennedy Nolan and Amanda Oliver Gardens
Rob Mills’ Melbourne Penthouse | Photography by Mark Roper
Architect Rob Mill’s Penthouse
Melbourne, Australia
The inner-city penthouse residence of RMA founder and architect Rob Mills and his family embraces panoramic views of both the city and sea and an inherent connection to nature from every angle.
“The penthouse is set inside the four boundaries of the building, allowing the occupants to circumnavigate the residence while being connected to the rich, colourful garden wherever you are in the home,” Rob says. “It makes the home inherently liveable, as wherever you are, you can look into the garden.”
It’s natural for an architect to always be looking for creative opportunities, and this came to pass when, during a site meeting to inspect equipment on the roof of the building, the couple discovered incredible unused space up there. They immediately made the decision to use it – as though recycling it. “We decided to use the space, as it would give us a quality of life we wouldn’t have below,” he says. “It’s important for me to have a view beyond the place I live in— to have a view of the world, and that’s the living experience created here.”
Rob Mills’ Melbourne Penthouse | Photography by Mark Roper
Rob Mills’ Melbourne Penthouse | Photography by Mark Roper
Malvern Garden House by Taylor Knights
Melbourne, Australia
Faced with a compartmentalised layout that often presents itself in period houses, the owners of this three-storey home contacted Melbourne-based architecture and interior design practice Taylor Knights to rework its floor plan. Although outdated and disconnected, the family home already had strong foundations and a large, lived-in garden. Walking the fine line between old and new, Taylor Knights have successfully realigned the home with the lifestyle of its young family while retaining its sought-after charm.
Taylor Knights’ approach to the redesign focused on injecting natural light wherever possible through full-height glazing, taking advantage of the lush backyard. The pavilion supports a discreet roof garden that spills over the exterior concrete lip, accommodating the new kitchen and dining room which are characterised by concrete ceilings and terrazzo flooring. The bespoke curved kitchen island bench reveals a touch of 1970s modernism illuminated by an angular skylight punctuating the concrete ceiling.
Taylor Knights has stepped up to this home’s challenges, scrupulously altering and reorienting the spaces to design a home set in its garden surrounds.
Malvern Garden House by Taylor Knights | Photography courtesy of Kennedy Nolan and Amanda Oliver Gardens
Malvern Garden House by Taylor Knights | Photography courtesy of Taylor Knights
