Barefoot House by Madeleine Blanchfield Architects | Photography by Pablo Veiga
Barefoot House by Madeleine Blanchfield Architects
Gadigal Country / Sydney, Australia
Positioned in one of Sydney’s most secluded beachside locations, Madeleine Blanchfield Architects have designed a Clovelly home to serve the needs of a growing family. The architect, known for her signature refined and restrained aesthetic, has applied the same design codes to this home to create an equally meditative and practical sanctuary. “We treat each project as an opportunity to showcase the client’s personality and character,” Madeliene says of her studio’s approach. “Our work strives to be timeless and elegant, refined and thoughtful.”
Inspired by the concept of ‘barefoot meandering’ as the project’s name denotes, it was designed to embrace the family’s journey around the treasured moments of pitter-patter footsteps. The notion of wandering is illustrated from the moment one arrives at the home, as a curved path leads around an arc before arriving at a courtyard. This is intended to forge the family’s privacy and seclusion from the active walkway that leads beachgoers to Gordon’s Bay.
Arranged around three courtyards, the floor plan allows the home to respire from almost every room. The courtyards also add to the visual aesthetic of the home as it evokes its coastal environment. Madeleine says the integration of the courtyard reflects what she seeks to achieve in every residential project. “A consistent focus on light, volume and capturing a sense of the extraordinary is evident throughout our projects,” she says. “Graceful integration of landscape and interiors is evident in homes that are remarkable but not ostentatious.”
Barefoot House by Madeleine Blanchfield Architects | Photography by Pablo Veiga
Barefoot House by Madeleine Blanchfield Architects | Photography by Pablo Veiga
Barefoot House by Madeleine Blanchfield Architects | Photography by Pablo Veiga
Lucy Folk’s Australian Home | Photography by Anson Smart
Lucy Folk’s Australian Home
Kabi Kabi Country / Queensland, Australia
Designed by Tamsin Johnson, designer, founder, and creative director Lucy Folk’s Queensland home emphasises the therapeutic influence of colour and texture, the importance of custom-designing and how the space is ideal for a growing family.
Folk came across this property during the pandemic after coming back to Australia from Europe. “We found Boreen accidentally and fell in love with the history and charm of the house,” Folk reflects. “I like to do unexpected things, and this was no different,” she adds. Describing the home as her ‘grand old dame’ on the shores of a lake, Folk was drawn to the locales’ natural respite. “It’s very soothing because it’s not tidal, quiet, and a bit mystical. The reflection on a calm day is extraordinary. It’s great for kids and very safe,” Folk says.
Working closely with Johnson, Folk set out to embody the notion of ‘less is more’ through an abundance of natural light, textural materials and artful accents. “I wanted to create a blank canvas and celebrate the surroundings, our furniture, and the artists we admire,” Folk affirms. The designers prioritised the use of colour to evoke softness and a connection to nature. “Colour is everything – it’s a form of therapy,” Folk says. “We chose sunset colours for the interior because you can watch the sunrise and sunset from the house, which is very powerful.”
Lucy Folk’s Australian Home | Photography by Anson Smart
Lucy Folk’s Australian Home | Photography by Anson Smart
Lucy Folk’s Australian Home | Photography by Anson Smart
Garden Lane Residence by Oliver Du Puy Architecture & Interiors
Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Country / Melbourne, Australia
The Victorian terrace was originally built for the foreman of Melbourne’s first department store, Mutual Store Ltd in 1889. As a heritage home, it was essential for Oliver Du Puy Architecture & Interiors to “re-invigorate and celebrate many of the period details that had been covered up or removed,” principal French-Australian architect Oliver Du Puy says.
The concept of balance is present throughout Garden Lane Residence, as Oliver Du Puy strove to “create a sensitive counterbalance” of restful yet inviting spaces. While the intricate heritage detailing was maintained – Victorian-era cornices, ceiling roses, fireplaces and skirting boards – these details were carefully balanced with more quiet and contemporary design moments. “I wanted to explore and re-invigorate the potential beauty of the historic Victorian architecture and juxtapose it with contemporary ideas of space, light and material articulation,” Oliver affirms.
Experimenting with space and proportion, Oliver drew inspiration from his time training in Tokyo, Japan, when designing this home. “I was particularly interested in exploring Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara’s symmetrical spatial compositions, but at the same time finding the poetic quality that fuses simplicity and surprise, the ordered and the unexpected,” Oliver reflects. “This manifests through gentle colour, curves, expressed structure and heritage features,” he adds, inspiring the structural timber panelling on the ceiling that underpins the home’s warmth.
Garden Lane Residence by Oliver Du Puy Architecture & Interiors | Photography by Tom Ross
Garden Lane Residence by Oliver Du Puy Architecture & Interiors | Photography by Tom Ross
Garden Lane Residence by Oliver Du Puy Architecture & Interiors | Photography by Tom Ross
Garden Lane Residence by Oliver Du Puy Architecture & Interiors | Photography by Tom Ross
Terrace House by Jolson | Photography by Lucas Allen
Terrace House by Jolson
Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Country / Melbourne, Australia
A client’s aspiration to downsize and find a home that mediated between contemporary design and their eclectic sensibility began when they were captivated by an old Victorian terrace’s sanctuary-like garden described as a ‘wonderland’. The response by Jolson Architecture and Interiors has resulted in a dwelling that melds the organic and linear, focusing purely on natural light while connecting with nature. This creates a place of solitude and security within a dense urban environment.
When designing Terrace House, the experiential element for their client was a priority for Jolson and manifests in details throughout the home. The walls either chamfer or curve, celebrating the way natural light moves about the house and interacts with it, creating shadows. From street level, a three-storey sheet of glass reveals a polished plaster staircase that creates a sculptural gesture as it spirals its way through the home and around the lift. Jolson increased the height of the balustrade, creating a seamless mix of privacy and natural light while enabling the owners to have visibility and engage with the plane trees outside.
“This house will evolve as the landscape forms part of the dialogue between architecture, interiors and landscape over the coming years,” Jolson principal Stephen Jolson says. “For us, it’s important to understand where the work sits in that sense of time.”
Terrace House by Jolson | Photography by Lucas Allen
Terrace House by Jolson | Photography by Lucas Allen
Terrace House by Jolson | Photography by Lucas Allen
Grey House by Adam Kane Architects
Dja Dja Wurrung Country / Daylesford, Australia
Tucked away in a valley and backing onto a forest reserve, it’s hard to imagine Adam Kane’s Daylesford home and guesthouse are close to the town centre. Drawn to the cool climate, the architect set his eyes on the half-acre site three years ago; a former subdivision that had a river running through the middle.
“I wanted the home to feel private and surrounded by garden rather than being perched on a hill to capture views,” Kane says. “It’s a pure integration of landscape and architecture.” The resulting ‘Grey House’ is conceived as a place to switch off on weekends. “I envisioned the home as the opposite of chaos and distraction, where everything has its place,” he says. “Pairing it back to one materiality and colour palette really creates this sense of introspection.”
When asked how he’s designed a home that’s minimal but not sterile, Kane attributes this to the floor plan and circulation. “It’s a small floorplan, but the way you can meander through the house, instead of having one big open plan glass box, means that each zone has its own view and atmosphere,” he says. A window lies at the end of every hallway and space, allowing the green outlook to play the role of a constantly changing artwork. “Window frames are embedded to accentuate the view – a detail we are now using in new projects,” Kane says. “The natural light also creates a beautiful shimmer on the adjoining walls, ceiling and floor,” he adds.
“I wanted to push beyond any conventional client boundaries, using this opportunity for unique customisation, rather than a collection of our typical details,” he says. “Our little secluded bunker in the forest does just that.”
Grey House by Adam Kane Architects | Photography by Timothy Kaye
Grey House by Adam Kane Architects | Photography by Timothy Kaye
Grey House by Adam Kane Architects | Photography by Timothy Kaye
Grey House by Adam Kane Architects | Photography by Timothy Kaye
