Krause emperor bricks in ghost grey nod to the heritage façade, contrasted by Volker Haug Studio Drop Stack pendant lighting with an aged-brass finish. Gebruder Thonet Vienna Loop dining chairs designed by India Mahdavi and Acerbis Jot chairs designed by Giotto Stoppino hug the dining table.
An inventive attitude to the fundamental elements of colour and materiality enlivens the emotional layers of Somerville House.
Briefed to design for the clients’ evolving needs, Fiona Lynch Office creative director, Fiona Lynch, meandered through the original home in Yarraville observing abundant colours and textures. “I knew this project was going to bring joy…That tension, between care and exuberance, heritage and experimentation, provided enormous creative potential,” she says. The clients’ trusting openness enabled innovative freedom to unfold.
The renovated floorplan encompasses living and dining spaces, kitchen, powder room and primary bedroom suite, with a separate guest level primed to embrace visiting family. Lynch worked alongside architect Dominic Pandolfini to ensure that while the heritage, Victorian-era façade was preserved, inside could take on a playful modernity. Conceptually, the clients’ art collection and the original home’s palette, including pastel pinks, greens and burnt reds, provided the interiors launchpad.
The design sees materials spread their wings beyond usual, functional confines. In doing so they become heroes of the home’s unique personality. Drawing on inventive swathes of stone applied in Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich’s Barcelona Pavilion, Lynch highlights that here, “Stone was approached as architecture rather than decoration, allowed to wrap, step and extend beyond conventional boundaries to actively shape the space.”
Honed marble from Franchini Umberto Marmi (FUM) in Breccia Pernice wraps the kitchen complemented by a Minim Kitchen set from Brodware, brass pendant by Griffin Design and white bowl designed by John Pawson for When Objects Work.
Solid expanses of blush-coloured marble cascade from ceiling height to sweep across the island bench as a continuous volume. Stone geometries stack atop each other while two blocks elevate the bench, maintaining an uplifting space. Similarly, honed vermillion travertine cloaks the powder room’s basin, camouflaging the functional fixture, increasing immersive tranquility. Lynch considers that, “Used in this way, stone offers a sense of permanence, sensuality and physical comfort that lighter materials cannot achieve; it feels grounding, generous to inhabit.”
From a majestic mint staircase, to the Australian granite injected into the limestone floor, materials are applied throughout as statements, artistically. Metal detailing is treated with warm, intriguing finishes with brushed bronze and teal, oxidized copper accenting bolder materials. Eclectic, vivid character is introduced by slim-lined furnishings and lighting that Lynch notes were “used sculpturally, rather than purely functionally”, peppers the geometrically applied materiality and architecture with organic forms.
“Residential design allows for emotional layering,” reflects Lynch. While it could be said that every project embeds fundamental elements of colour and materiality, Somerville House cracks open each with inventive invitation. Here, material and colour are elements enlivened within the textural micro landscapes they create. As if pulsing, they achieve that emotional resonance, alongside a celebratory sense of home and everyday wonder.
A blue dado lines ‘white duck’ polished plaster walls in the living room, recalling the home’s previous chapter. Slim-lined furnishings include a Molteni&C D.154.2 armchair by Gio Ponti and Ploum Settee lounge, handcrafted by French brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Ligne Roset. A purple sculpture by Mark Douglass and green Pina table handcrafted in casted glass by German designer Sebastian Herkner for Pulpo inject colour.
The immersive vermillion powder room features honed red travertine from Artedomus with metallic accents including the patinaed, copper finish doorway, a Volker Haug Studio Anton wall light and Minim fittings in brushed brass from Brodware.
The cooler palette delineates the tranquil bedroom which features honed Tegela stone by Signorino, DS-266 recliner De Sede chair and artwork by Augustus Geddes.
