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    Studio Edwards adopts zero-waste strategy for Today Design office in Melbourne

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    Melbourne-based Studio Edwards has completed a workspace for creative agency Today Design using recycled and off-the-shelf materials that could be reused in the future.

    Located on the 12th floor of an office block in Melbourne’s Collingwood neighbourhood, the Today Design Workspace features partition walls made from OSB (oriented strand board) and translucent corrugated fibreglass.
    The office provides a workspace for creative agency Today DesignFurniture was built from scaffolding poles and timber boards, while sheets of recycled denim and sail cloth help to improve acoustics.
    Ben Edwards, architect and co-founder of Studio Edwards, said the project was designed for disassembly.
    Partition walls and tables are mounted on castors for flexibility”The goal was to create a workspace that leaves zero waste in its wake, constructed entirely from readily available materials without applied finishes,” he stated.

    “This means no plasterboard, no laminate and no MDF.”
    Another key aspect of the design is flexibility. The layout incorporates spaces for individual focus work, collaboration and meetings, but it can be reconfigured if required.
    Scaffolding poles provide furniture and screensMost of the partition walls and tables are mounted on castors so that they can be easily moved around, while a track system provides flexible lighting overhead.
    The layout of the Today Design Workspace is deliberately non-linear, organised around a looping circulation route that largely follows a diagonal trajectory through the 900-square-metre space.
    Despite its irregularity, the layout was planned to ensure that all partitions match the standard material sheet size, minimising the need for cutting.
    Built-in seats feature quilted denim cushionsCasual seating areas were built into some of the partition walls.
    These were formed of custom-made quilted denim cushions rather than upholstery, which makes them easier to recycle.

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    “The arrangement of spaces within the workspace is intentionally informal, creating a contrast with the building’s rigid rectilinear column grid,” explained Edwards.
    “Circulation pathways between these spaces are purposefully designed to encourage interaction and collaboration among teams,” he said.
    Rolls of denim form a semi-circular reception deskThe colour blue is a recurring theme throughout the space.
    Much of this comes from the use of denim. Sheets of this textile cover much of the building’s exposed concrete shell, held in place by magnets, while rolls of denim form a semi-circular reception desk.
    Blue is a recurring colour throughoutA blue stain was also applied to the timber beams that provide the structural framework.
    This colour contrasts with the warm, earthy shades of the OSB and the sisal flooring that features in some of the meeting rooms.
    Two-tone project tables feature built-in “toolboxes”Studio Edwards designed furniture to suit the collaborative nature of Today Design’s workflow.
    Two-tone project tables have built-in”toolboxes” filled with pens and sticky notes, while a large kitchen table integrates a continuous task-lighting channel. These are accompanied by cast aluminium chairs.
    The kitchen includes a table with a continuous task-lighting channelOther highlights include a kitchen with a stainless steel worktop, a magazine library with a neochrome effect and a flexible gallery and events space.
    “Today Workspace stands as a testament to sustainable design and collaborative ingenuity, a space where creativity thrives in harmony with the environment,” added Edwards.
    Translucent fibreglass screens are fixed to a blue-stained timber frameworkStudio Edwards is co-directed by designer Nancy Beka. Other projects by the studio include the modular NTS Space office, also in Collingwood, and the “jewel-like” Vision Studio eyewear store in Glen Waverley.
    The photography is by Peter Bennetts.
    Project credits
    Architect: Studio EdwardsBuilding contractor: McCormackServices contractor: Aston ConsultingStructural engineer: FORM EngineersProject management: Facilitate CorporationFurniture fabrication: James McNab DesignLighting: Sphera Lighting

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      Australian hardwood lines Melbourne cottage extension by Prior Barraclough

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      Architecture practice Prior Barraclough has expanded a modest workers’ cottage in Melbourne to include an extension panelled entirely in Australian hardwood.

      Located in the neighbourhood of Northcote, Union Street House is a single-fronted workers’ cottage owned by a recently retired couple who wanted their home to have more functional living space.
      Local practice Prior Barraclough was tasked with extending the site but had to find ways to work around its strict planning regulations with “sensitivity to the heritage streetscape”.
      Union Street House is lined with Australian hardwoodThe extension was designed to sit neatly between two houses that lie on either side of the original cottage and features a dramatic slanting roof complete with solar tiles.
      The peak of the roof aligns with those of the two flanking properties, minimising the extension’s visual bulk and overshadowing.

      Its sloping form also allows for rainwater to trickle down and be collected in an underground tank, which is then recycled and used to service the home’s bathrooms or irrigate its outdoor spaces.
      A kitchen sits beneath the highest point of the extension’s slanted roofInside, the extension was clad all over with boards of Australian hardwood to both evoke a sense of warmth and soften the “folded geometry” of its interior architecture.
      “The entire extension is arranged on a 75 milimetre grid that governs joinery openings, door positions, room dimensions and material alignments,” explained the practice.
      “To align timber boards with this grid across surfaces pitched at different angles, each board had to be milled to precise and often varying dimensions.”
      Stainless steel-lined cupboards contrast surrounding wooden surfacesA comfy lounge was created beneath the lowest point of the roof, giving the space a more enclosed, intimate ambience. Light floods in from the expansive glazed panel that fronts the extension, granting views of the cottage’s leafy back garden.
      This is followed by a dining area, anchored by a large table crafted from hardwood boards that were left over from the construction works.
      Gridded white tiles feature on the bathroom wallsUnder the highest point of the extension’s roof is a minimalist kitchen. Hardwood boards overlay its central breakfast island and rear wall, concealing a series of storage cupboards.
      The inside of the cupboards was contrastingly lined with stainless steel, specifically chosen by Prior Barraclough to “emphasise the singularity” of the rest of the extension’s material palette.
      Narrow rectangular tiles that “maintain the precision of the project grid” were also applied in the bathroom suite that hides behind the kitchen.
      The extension’s mezzanine level provides additional living spaceA small mezzanine was built above the kitchen, which can serve as a study, guest bedroom or secondary sitting area.
      Slatted wooden screens were installed in front of the glazed opening here to provide privacy when needed.
      Inhabitants can go back to the cottage proper via a faceted wood-lined corridor, angled in such a way as to conceal the flight of stairs that leads up to the extension’s mezzanine level.
      A faceted corridor leads back to the original cottageUnion Street House has been shortlisted in the home interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      Other nominees include a residence in Tokyo filled with wooden furniture and artwork, a Madrid apartment divvied up by vibrant glazed tiles and Another Seedbed in Brooklyn, which doubles as a performance space.
      The photography is by Benjamin Hosking.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Prior BarracloughBuilder: Ben Monagle/Camson HomesEngineer: Adams Consulting Engineers

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      Branch Studio Architects designs student welfare space for Melbourne college

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      Branch Studio Architects has created a dusty-pink student welfare centre at an all-boys school in Melbourne to provide a space for discussing mental health.

      Marcellin College principal Marco Di Cesare saw a need to offer a space where students could come together and seek help for mental health issues, particularly after Australia’s state of Victoria experienced some of the strictest lockdowns during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
      The creation of the student welfare centre involved renovating an “undercroft” spaceThe faculty therefore decided to renovate a 387-square-metre space for this purpose inside the existing Placidus Building on campus, instead of knocking it down.
      “Marco came to us with a brief for a refurbishment to a lower-ground space within an existing building, which – under previous management – was flagged for demolition,” said Brad Wray, co-founder of Branch Studio Architects and the project’s design architect.
      The majority of the centre is occupied by a common space for studentsThe space had previously been used as a series of nondescript classrooms and staff offices, with a lack of natural light.

      “Given the poor amenity and general dark ‘undercroft’ feeling of the existing space, it was a space that not many staff or students particularly liked to use and saw any real value in,” said Wray. “Let alone, the potential of the space becoming a place for student welfare.”
      Multiple spaces for studying and relaxing are incorporated throughout the common areaThe brief called for a lighter, brighter area in which students could relax, study, contemplate and converse with one another, as well as provide offices for faculty members who specialise in student welfare and private rooms for one-on-one discussions.
      The smaller rooms were pushed to the edge of the floor plan, leaving a spacious common area to occupy the bulk of the centre’s footprint.
      Lightly textured, dusty-pink plaster was chosen as a unifying materialThis open space is partially divided by sculptural geometric partitions and fixed furniture elements into a series of seating areas, workspaces and hang-out niches.
      “We wanted to create an environment which embodied a sense of a ‘home away from home’, where students could feel more comfortable through direct visual associations with their own homes,” Wray said.
      A space for reflection is modelled on a chapelFor instance, a kitchen island – where many students might speak casually with family and friends – was integrated to encourage similar instances.
      Lightly textured, dusty-pink plaster was chosen to highlight the architectural interventions, while a burgundy hue was selected for seat-cushion upholstery and cabinetry in the kitchen area.
      Branch Studio Architects chose to translate elements from The Hermitage”Given Marcellin College is an all-boys school, there was a keen interest from early on in pushing the boundaries of gender-based colour stereotypes,” said Wray.
      The team also used the college’s associations with Marist Catholic history to inform the design.
      Sculptural furniture pieces are based on features found at the Marist pilgrimage siteEstablished in the 1950s, Marcellin College is named after Saint Marcellin Champagnat, who built The Hermitage community on a property near Lyons, France, in 1824.
      Wray and his team translated multiple references from this pilgrimage site into architectural elements through the welfare centre.

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      Most prominent is the enclosed reflection space in the middle of the common room, which is modelled on the original chapel that sat on The Hermitage site.
      Landscape features, archways, a cabinet, a fireplace and a relic found at the site in France were reinterpreted as minimalist curved walls and sculptural furniture pieces that appear to be carved from the welfare centre’s interior.
      Tiered seating is based on the amphitheatre built into the landscape at The Hermitage”We are under no illusions architecture will solve student mental health, but we hope it facilitates a positive experience – a calm and relaxing place to open up a dialogue between students and staff,” said Wray.
      The Placidus Student Welfare Space is shortlisted in the health and wellbeing interior category for this year’s Dezeen Awards, along with a children’s clinic in Seattle, a high-end dental practice in Toronto and two more projects. See the full interiors shortlist here.
      The minimalist interior is intended to help the students focus and contemplateFounded in 2012 by Wray and Nicholas Russo, Branch Studio Architects has seen previous Dezeen Awards success – having won interior project of the year in 2019 for a school administration office in Melbourne.
      The firm’s portfolio of completed education projects in Australia also includes an arts centre at another college in Victoria, a weathering steel bridge for a secondary school and a wooden extension to a school library.
      The photography is by Peter Clarke.
      Project credits:
      Branch Studio Architects team: Brad Wray, design architect; Nicholas Russo, project realisation; Jax Lam, project architect; Arun Lakshmanan, graduate architectBuilder: MDC Building GroupBuilding surveyor: Michel Group Building SurveyorsStructural engineer: OPS EngineersServices engineer: BRT Consulting

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      Chipboard and recycled denim define spaces inside Microloft in Melbourne

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      Australian architecture practice Studio Edwards has completed an exercise in contemporary small-space living with this 24-square-metre micro apartment in Melbourne’s Fitzroy district.

      The clients, a young couple, approached Studio Edwards to remodel the tiny studio apartment on the top floor of a 1980s apartment block.
      Microloft is a 24-square-metre apartment in Melbourne”They asked for a home that felt unified and clutter-free, with ample storage, an efficient kitchen with space for cooking and dining, a comfortable lounge and quiet sleeping zones,” founder Ben Edwards told Dezeen.
      “Microloft provides a solution for inner-city living that navigates the constraints of limited space and ageing housing stock through an interior that provides the clients with a functional and coherent dwelling.”
      Aluminium was used to form kitchen counters and shelvesRather than using partitions or walls, spaces are defined by custom furniture pieces that provide visual connections.

      A horizontal raw aluminium surface forms angled countertops in both the kitchen and dining area before extending through an existing double archway into the sleeping area beyond.
      Chipboard forms several other storage units throughout Micoloft”Angled elements act in a similar way to room dividers, nothing extends higher than the datum line, helping the space to remain open,” said Edwards.
      “The kitchen melds seamlessly into a dining space via the angled countertop, while triangular storage shelves make use of the corners of the room.”

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      The angular wedge shape of the aluminium counters is mirrored in a wall-mounted console and a custom-made sofa with bookshelves integrated into its base, both made from oriented strand board (OSB).
      Above the datum line, one wall is clad in grey mirrored panels to make the apartment appear larger while creating a visual link to the grey-painted exposed brick walls and the heavily patinated concrete floor.
      The bed sits on a raised chipboard plinth to maximise bedroom storage, while the sliding door of the wardrobe, as well as the apartment’s front door, are wrapped in recycled denim to provide further textural interest as well as acoustic softening.
      Among them is the wardrobe in the bedroom”Use of raw aluminium surfaces, along with the OSB plinth that elevates the bed, provide creative storage solutions while delivering refined aesthetic appeal,” said Edwards.
      Simple IKEA stools were customised to fit in with the apartment, with a bedside stool wrapped in recycled denim to further soften the acoustics in this space.
      In the dining area, the same stools were extended with aluminium legs to create high seats for bench-top dining.
      A recycled denim panel forms the wardrobe’s sliding doorMicro homes are among a number of solutions being explored by architects and interior designers in response to Melbourne’s worsening housing crisis, as the city saw record rent increases last year.
      Others have explored creating multi-generational homes where family members can split both spaces and costs, as seen in this house on a narrow infill site by Matt Gibson and this adaptable suburban home by Austin Maynard Architects.
      Maynard also recently self-funded the construction of an “ethical housing” block in inner-city Melbourne, accommodating 20 low-cost, eco-conscious apartments with enough room for young families.
      The photography is by Peter Bennetts.

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      India Mahdavi creates colourful scenography for Pierre Bonnard exhibition in Melbourne

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      Iranian-French architect India Mahdavi has designed an exhibition to present works by French painter Pierre Bonnard at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

      Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi presents more than 100 works by the famed 20th-century artist who is celebrated for applying an iridescent palette.
      India Mahdavi has offered her take on Pierre Bonnard’s paintings through the exhibition scenographyThe scenography design by Mahdavi, also known for her use of colour, is intended to create “an impression of his world, through my own eyes” according to the architect.
      Instead of typical white gallery walls, the spaces are awash with bold hues and patterns that she has chosen to complement the artworks.
      The architect chose colors and patterns to complement the artworksMany of the shades of yellow, pink, orange and green that adorn the walls and floors are lifted directly from the canvases, while floral-inspired repeated patterns offer a contrasting backdrop.

      Large carpets continue these motifs at different scales across the floors.
      Many of the colours were lifted from the artworksMahdavi has also placed some of her own furniture designs in the gallery spaces, offering visitors the opportunity to pause and appreciate the paintings and their surroundings.
      “Mahdavi envelopes Pierre Bonnard’s works in an environment that complements Bonnard’s distinct use of colour and texture, and evokes the wistful domestic intimacy for which his paintings are renowned,” said the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).
      Several of Mahdavi’s furniture designs are placed in the galleriesBonnard was born in 1867, and his artistic career took off in the 1890s in Paris, where he began capturing street life.
      The artist’s focus then moved to domesticity, followed by landscapes thanks to the influence of his friend and neighbour in Normandy, Claude Monet.
      The exhibition is divided into 11 themes based on the subject matter of Bonnard’s paintingsBonnard later relocated to the south of France and created a large body of work there before his death in 1947.
      “The paintings of Pierre Bonnard depict intimate domestic interiors, natural landscapes and urban scenes with subtlety, wit and a sensuous approach to colour and light,” said the gallery.
      Some of the spaces are decorated entirely in one colourThe exhibition features loans from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, which holds the world’s largest collection of Bonnard’s work, along with significant loans from other museums and private collections from around the world.
      It is organised around 11 themes, which include landscapes, interiors, still life, early nudes, and large decorations.

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      There are also sections dedicated to his depictions of music and theatre, views from his 1920s studio in Le Cannet, and scenes of nature and daily life around the town.
      “For Bonnard, landscape painting was a hybrid genre and often included glimpses of interiors and still lifes,” said the gallery.
      Mahdavi is renowned for her use of colourThe gallery has hosted many immersive exhibitions and installations in recent years, including a scaled-down version of Greece’s famous Parthenon temple, a mist-filled chasm in its sculpture garden, and Nendo’s take on the drawings of MC Escher.
      Mahdavi’s best-known projects include the Gallery dining room at London restaurant Sketch, which she originally created in pale pink, then transformed with golden tones in 2022.
      Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi runs until 8 October 2023She recently updated six rooms within Rome’s 16th-century Villa Medici to feature an array of contemporary and colourful furniture.
      Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi forms part of NGV’s Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series, and runs from 9 June to 8 October 2023. For more exhibitions, events and talks in architecture and design visit Dezeen’s Events Guide. 
      The photography is by Lillie Thompson.

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      SSdH tucks Melbourne warehouse apartment into former chocolate factory

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      Local studio SSdH has designed a split-level, mezzanine-style apartment characterised by eclectic furniture, which is housed within an old chocolate factory in Melbourne.

      Kerr is a warehouse apartment in Melbourne’s Fitzroy suburb, located in a building that was once home to the historic MacRoberton’s Chocolate Factory before being converted into residential units in the late 1990s.
      Kerr is one of a number of apartments arranged around a central atriumAdapted into “apartment shells” arranged around a striking central atrium, the units were first designed with only basic amenities to allow occupants to determine their own interior designs.
      SSdH recently renovated Kerr, one of these units, as a three-bedroom, two-bathroom dwelling that intends to expose but also refresh the building’s original architecture.
      “The design pays homage to history while being decidedly contemporary,” studio director Jean-Marie Spencer told Dezeen.

      The home is divided by a white-painted staircaseThe mezzanine-style apartment is split across two levels by a staircase with a white-painted gridded steel mesh balustrade. Doubling as a lightwell, the staircase is illuminated by the apartment’s original single factory window.
      Upstairs, the open-plan living space includes a kitchen fitted with geometric cabinetry made from local spotted gum timber, as well as brushed stainless steel and nickel fixtures.
      Spotted gum timber and stainless steel define the kitchenThe similarly minimalist lounge area is delineated by smooth sliding doors made of the same spotted gum, which are offset by existing structural beams and columns painted in bright white.
      A sage-green two-seater armchair is positioned next to a chunky column floor lamp by emerging designer Annie Paxton and a distinctive coral-blue vase.
      A two-seater armchair features in the lounge area”Old wall and ceiling linings, trims and details are stripped back to expose original materials and structural framing,” explained Spencer.
      “An application of white unifies what was, subsequently giving the ‘new’ its own platform through contrast,” she added.
      SSdH also included timber accents downstairsTwo bedrooms and a bathroom are contained downstairs, while a bedroom and an en-suite feature on the upper level.
      All three bedrooms are defined by the same pared-back white and wooden elements as the communal areas. Inside one of them, a mushroom-like floor lamp made from lumps of blue sculpting plaster adds a playful touch.
      Among the eclectic furniture is a mushroom-like lampGleaming geometric tiles in shades of blue and yellow feature in each of the bathrooms, which also have bulbous sconce lights.
      Timber operable doors and translucent curtains leading to the sleeping areas were designed to balance the airy openness of the living spaces, according to Spencer.
      One bathroom is clad in bright blue tiles”Living areas, where privacy is less of a concern, invoke a spilling out to the street to make the most of the light and air,” said the studio director.
      Other sculptural accents inserted throughout the apartment include boxy aluminium corner stools under the stairs and a fluted side table crafted from a solid piece of timber.

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      SSdH added double glazing to Kerr’s existing large factory window to provide both thermal and acoustic benefits to the apartment, which is located in close proximity to a busy street.
      “This glazing, along with the thermal mass embodied within the heavy masonry building allowed the apartment to remain un-airconditioned, relying on passive cross ventilation from the shared building lobby to maintain temperatures and reduce energy consumption,” said Spencer.
      Boxy aluminium corner stools are tucked under the staircaseFormerly industrial spaces are popular locations for residential conversions.
      Local firm Studio McW transformed an east London warehouse into a live-work space for climate activists and filmmakers Jack Harries and Alice Aedy while Auba Studio designed an apartment in a 1980s bakery in Palma de Mallorca.
      The photography is by Pier Carthew.

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      Office Alex Nicholls creates multi-generational Melbourne apartment with its own spa

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      Architecture studio Office Alex Nicholls has fused two penthouse apartments in Melbourne into one large flexible home, converting their basement parking spots into a private spa and pool.

      Adaptability was key to the home in Melbourne’s Elsternwick suburb, which needed to provide enough space for a multi-generational family as well as accommodating visiting relatives in guest rooms that double up as studies.
      Office Alex Nicholls fused two apartments to create Elsternwick Penthouse”Spaces were designed to adapt to a multitude of uses, with flexible working and living spaces as well as areas that could expand for large groups or contract to provide intimate settings,” the studio’s founder Alex Nicholls told Dezeen.
      Office Alex Nicholls was brought on board while the apartment block was still under construction and was able to make significant changes to suit his clients’ needs – improving the layout, adding skylights and up-speccing on key details like the windows.
      Timber staircases lead to the roof garden”The design intent was to create variety and different spatial experiences across a very expansive and potentially monotonous floorplan,” Nicholls said.

      “I wanted to create a light yet grounded and natural-feeling space that was contrasted with some stronger formal elements such as sculptural skylights and coloured functional volumes.”
      A “library spine” runs through the apartment to provide storageTo navigate this vast apartment, Nicholls devised a central “library spine” – a corridor running the entire length of the apartment that houses the family’s collection of books, art and artefacts while creating an opportunity out of what could have been a dark and monotonous space.
      “The idea for the library spine was born from a storage requirement of the clients,” the architect said. “However, it became a key architectural intervention.”
      “From a practical standpoint, it allowed everything to be easily accessible and displayed but it also helps to draw people through the apartment and celebrate the two staircases to the roof garden at either end.”
      Oculus skylights funnel sunlight into the interiorTo provide vital light to the heart of the apartment and enhance the two main living spaces, Nicholls designed a series of circular and semi-circular oculus skylights, which reference the clients’ love of Elsternwick’s art deco architecture.
      “They create a sense of movement and symmetry in the composition of otherwise rectilinear volumes,” he explained.

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      The apartment has three kitchens, partly to meet the family’s religious requirements and partly to allow the different generations who are sharing the apartment to enjoy their own independence.
      Described by Nicholls as a series of “magic boxes”, each monolithic kitchen is defined by one vivid colour. This helps to delineate spaces and provides a counterpoint to the otherwise warm and natural material palette, which includes Blackbutt timber and Gosford sandstone.
      The apartment has three colourful kitchen units”The kitchens were designed to be largely concealed within these coloured volumes to give each one more spatial presence while ensuring the apartment did not feel too kitchen- and appliance-heavy as a result of the clients’ complex requirements,” Nicholls said.
      In the basement, Nicholls turned the penthouses’ lift-accessed parking spots into a private 100-square-metre wellness space that features a fitness pool, sauna, kitchenette, changing rooms and a flexible rehabilitation area.
      Nicholls also converted the apartments’ parking spots into a private spaTo make up for the lack of natural light in this subterranean space, Nicholls deployed atmospheric indirect lighting and a warm colour palette.
      “Lighting the space via a datum of timber niches helped give the spa a restorative atmosphere, enhanced by the use of natural materials such as sandstone, timber, terracotta and lime render,” he explained.
      The spa is home to a timber saunaElsternwick is a thriving suburb in the southeast of Melbourne, brimming with buzzy shops, restaurants and bars.
      Among them is the Hunter & Co Deli, whose interiors were informed by the cold cuts on offer, and the minimal Penta cafe with its monolithic concrete counter.
      The photography is by Rory Gardiner.

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      Studio Tate creates “textural earthiness” for Relinque wellness spa

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      Melbourne-based Studio Tate has used raw and tactile materials to create “a soothing urban oasis” for the Relinque spa in Melbourne.

      Located in north east Melbourne, the 800 square-metre space includes a day-spa, spinal clinic, pilates and yoga studios.
      The interiors are informed by local parks and waterwaysLocal practice Studio Tate was informed by nearby parklands and waterways to create “a soothing urban oasis”.
      “It was important to create a textural earthiness that evokes the senses, while striking a balance between sophistication and approachability,” explained Studio Tate senior associate Emily Addison.
      A deep rust tone in the treatment rooms was selected to be gender neutralThe treatments rooms were located on either side of a central reception area, with the spa and yoga studio located on one side and the spinal clinic and pilates studio on the other.

      Studio Tate used green marble, honed granite and hand-glazed Japanese tiles in the reception area, where visitors are encouraged to relax and browse the retail products before stepping into treatments.
      Curved corridors encourage visitors to explore the spaceThe yoga studio was intentionally positioned close to the entrance facing the street, which allows plenty of natural light. A timber floor and ceiling were desigend to create a sense of warmth in the room.
      Moving further into the spa area, the tones get darker to provide privacy. Spaces were arranged in a circular configuration, which “encourages a continuous experience of the venue”.

      The design aimed to have “textural earthines”A curved corridor finished in polished plaster leads visitors to the spa area. Five individually-contained treatment rooms feature a deep rust tone, steam showers with sage green tiles and a granite shower bench.
      Above the treatment bench, a backlit ceiling creates a halo around a circular acoustic fabric panel. The gently diffused light helps calm the mind throughout treatments.

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      The rounded steam room is lined with mosaic tiles, facing directly onto an ice room centred around an ice well covered in Japanese ceramic tiles.
      “Luxurious accents are balanced with raw and tactile materials, ensuring the space feels welcoming to all,”added Addison.
      Steam showers are lined with sage green tiles and a granite shower benchA palette of greens, greys, burgundy and earth tones were used throughout the space in response to the nature-themed design narrative, according to Addison.
      Studio Tate is led by interior designer Alex Hopkins and Carley Nicholls. The studios previous work includes an open office design for Burnet Institute and a day-spa with calming interiors in Melbourne.
      The Photography is by Lillie Thompson.

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      Brave New Eco applies cosy colours and materials to Melbourne “forever home”

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      Timber, terracotta and rich jewel tones feature throughout this home in Melbourne that Australian studio Brave New Eco has designed for a family of five.

      Occupied by a couple and their three teenage children, West Bend House sits on a leafy plot overlooking the greenery-lined banks of Melbourne’s Merri Creek.
      The building itself was designed by local studio MRTN Architects but Brave New Eco was brought on board to do the interiors for the “forever home”, having already worked with the studio twice before on other projects.
      West Bend House is a Melbourne residence by Brave New Eco”The owners of the house were well known to us,” Brave New Eco explained.
      “They had been clients in the early days of the studio, so the mutual trust and respect levels were high, allowing us to create a highly responsive and intimately resolved outcome that the dynamic family will inhabit for many years to come,” the studio added.

      “Our challenge was to configure the interior elements so that each space feels settled and cohesive, with a sense of discovery to the distinct spaces as you move through the home.”
      A khaki-green sofa contrasts the blue carpet in the living roomCustom wooden cabinetry was installed in the home’s galley kitchen and kept handleless so that it “reads like a piece of furniture”, according to Brave New Eco.
      A wooden screen was also added behind the sink area to keep the washing-up out of view.
      Custom timber shelving was created for the studySlender green tiles that pick up on the home’s verdant surroundings line the island counter, as well as a strip of wall behind the stove.
      Above, a handy timber shelf for storing cooking paraphernalia is fronted with sliding brass-mesh screens.
      To the side of the kitchen lies an expansive picture window, beneath which the studio built a “bedroom repatriation drawer” where family members can store any belongings that stray from their sleeping quarters.
      The principal bedroom was rendered calming shades of greyThe colour green pops up again in the home’s laundry room, where the cupboards are coated with emerald-coloured Marmoleum.
      An L-shaped khaki-green sofa dominates one corner of the living room, contrasting with the plush teal carpet.

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      At the centre of the home’s ground floor is a sunken courtyard with a study housed on the other side. This was finished with full-height timber bookshelves, a lengthy desk and a pinboard panel where the owners can tack up anything from reminders to artwork by the kids.
      The floor, like much of the rest of the home, was inlaid with red bricks.
      Sapphire-coloured tiles clad the main bedroom’s ensuiteSoothing grey shades were applied in the principal bedroom upstairs, which adjoins a moody ensuite bathroom almost entirely clad in sapphire-blue tiles.
      Two types of terracotta tile – one plain, one grooved – were used to create textured walls in the bathroom shared by the owners’ daughters.
      Terracotta tiling creates textural interest in the daughters’ bathroomWest Bend House is one of five projects shortlisted in the house interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      It will go up against residences such as Twentieth by Wood + Dangaran, which is arranged around a decades-old olive tree, and Barwon Heads House by Adam Kane Architects, which adjoins a barn-like extension.
      The photography is by Peter Bennetts.

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