North

From the street, the volume of the home is perceived in one way, and as soon as you enter through the front gate, that perception completely changes. You’re met with a bridge, suspended across the sunken basement courtyard, which leads you to the front door. The experience of ‘crossing the bridge’ is intentional.

That’s when you first get a glimpse of the vertical scale of the home, and the hidden treasures that lie within it. As the front door opens, the horizontal scale of the home is revealed through a direct sightline to the very rear of the property.

That sightline spans the entry breezeway, living rooms, study, staircase, kitchen, dining room, alfresco, garden and tennis court beyond. As you journey through the home, it’s a sensory experience. You see and feel the size, the warmth of materials, it’s tactile. You hear the bubbling water of the pool.

There’s volume in the scale of the home, and there’s volume in the weight of the home through the use of insitu concrete. It provides protection from the elements of nature and a sense of permanence, standing the test of time.

At the North House, the concrete is exposed as an exterior focus on the façade, in a linear and bold manner, contributing to the home’s visual character. Incorporation of arches on the front façade with their balanced proportions essentially completed the home’s visual character, which is, in essence, the client’s character.

A round theme that is carried through the home, through skylights and feature round shrouds completing the interstitial space on the northern façade of the home. Picture-framed moments.

The heart of the home is the three-storey high spiral staircase, and each level and room that flows beyond, is an artery. The circular geometry of the staircase symbolises constant motion. Day to day life between the ground and first floors.

Internally, zones are articulated through vertical volume. The sunken Living Room is a special space. It steps down with a textural floor change, enhancing the experience of intimacy. The glazing is double-height. Timber cladding has been incorporated on the ceiling for a sense of warmth and enclosure.

The mckimm interior design team were engaged by former clients to bring a new dimension of materiality and functionality to certain spaces within their mckimm home. With the intent of enhancing the homes visual character, the new features offer sympathetic enrichments to existing spaces, creating additional layers that explore connection, tactility and practicality.

In the living room, a Cheminees Philippe was installed to bring warmth and richness during the Melbourne winters. Appearing to hover in space, the industrial-look wood-burning fireplace floats atop a marble inset, curved to bring a softness and juxtaposition to the living area. Beyond the fireplace and original floating concrete hearth, wide-format timber was vertically clad to the walls, continuing the existing linear narrative within the home. Providing a sense of connectivity between the living, dining and kitchen zones, timber was further added to the original plasterboard bulkhead in the kitchen, creating a seamless transition between the zones. Unifying the spaces further, a feature Laurent 07 Lambert & Fils pendant connects with the industrial aesthetic seen with the installation of the Cheminees Philippe in the living room.

Downstairs, a marble-clad wine cellar is an unexpected new focal point as you descend the homes central core spiral staircase. Striking and voluminous, the cellar was added to bring a new dimension to an underutilised area. Glux Green Lattern marble clads both the walls and floors, creating a dark and intimate space that enhances the internal experience of the basement. Utilising the intrinsic rawness of steel, the space is softened by the inclusion of curved glass and a feature wall light by Melbourne based lighting design studio, Articolo.