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      Edition Office rearranges The Melburnian Apartment around oak wood volumes

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      Towering, pale wood volumes hide the functional elements of this apartment in Melbourne, Australia which has been overhauled by local architecture studio Edition Office.The Melburnian Apartment – which is shortlisted in the apartment interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards – is set within a residential building in the Southbank neighbourhood, overlooking the city’s arts precinct and royal botanical gardens.
      Prior to Edition Office’s intervention, it had featured several rectilinear rooms that were awkwardly crammed into the apartment’s crescent-shaped floor plan.

      The Melburnian Apartment is arranged around volumes made from oak wood

      The studio was asked by the young couple who own the apartment to create a less restrictive, easy-going layout that was more suited to their often unpredictable social lives.
      After knocking through a majority of the existing plaster-board partition walls, Edition Office decided to tuck away the functional elements of the home inside a trio of full-height storage volumes.

      A kitchen is hidden behind one of the volumes
      “The design response is inherently simple, refined and calming – which restores and creates freedom,” explained the studio.
      “Circulation drifts and flows around the formal partitioning elements, allowing for a space with no doors,” it added. “In this way, the clients move from sleep to morning coffee to home office to showering to washing to working to thinking in a continually evolving and smooth loop.”

      White oak wood lines the outside of the volumes. Photo is by Kim Bridgland of Edition Office
      Each of the rounded volumes are externally lined with oiled white oak wood, while the insides are clad with grey granite tiles – two materials that the studio thought would offset the apartment building’s “textural aloofness”.
      One of the volumes contains a kitchen, which has been minimally finished with handleless timber cupboards. The second volume has been in-built with a sofa upholstered in tan-brown leather and a small desk, which are meant to have the same feel as a study cubicle in a library.

      The inside of the volumes are clad with granite tiles
      The third and final volume has been made to curve around a freestanding desk to form a larger home office. Several steel shelves have been incorporated so that the inhabitants have a place to display their wide array of novels.
      An additional bathroom is also integrated into the back of this volume, which is almost entirely covered with slim white tiles. It also includes a marble-effect vanity cabinet.

      Another one of the volumes curves around a study with steel bookshelves. Photo is by Kim Bridgland of Edition Office
      Edition Office has carefully arranged the volumes to provide shade to living spaces, which were often flooded with sunlight from the floor-to-ceiling window that curves around the apartment’s front elevation.

      Black pavilion filled with glass yams examines colonisation in Australia

      “Their curved forms invite light and shadow to drift and smear around corners, and allow for a home that has too much natural daylight to provide the sanctuary of shadow and the textural delight that comes with it,” added the studio.
      The volumes also block sightlines to the master bedroom in the corner of the apartment, which is simply separated from the rest of the plan by a raw-linen curtain.

      This volume also includes a white-tile bathroom
      Edition Office was established in 2016 and is led by Kim Bridgland and Aaron Roberts. The studio was named as emerging architect of the year in the 2019 Dezeen Awards.
      In this year’s awards, its Melburnian Apartment will compete against projects such as La Nave by Nomos, a flat in Madrid that occupies an abandoned workshop, and Jaffa House 4 by Pitsou Kedem Architects, an apartment that’s set inside a 300-year-old brick building in Tel Aviv.
      Photography is by Ben Hosking unless stated otherwise.

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      Ritz & Ghougassian uses bricks and Australian wood inside Melbourne's Prior cafe

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      The rustic materiality of this Melbourne cafe designed by architecture studio Ritz & Ghougassian is meant to reflect the fuss-free dishes on the menu.Prior is situated along the lively high street of Melbourne’s Thornbury suburb, taking over a building that once served as an industrial printing house.

      Prior cafe occupies a building that was once a printing house
      When Ritz & Ghougassian were brought on board to develop the interiors of the cafe, it stripped back any decorative elements left behind from the old fit-out, only preserving the brick walls and eight-metre-high truss ceiling.

      “It was clear to us that we had to honour the original space by proposing an intervention that sat apart from the original framework of the building,” the studio’s co-founder, Jean-Paul Ghougassian, told Dezeen.

      Bricks cover the cafe’s floor and the base of the service bar
      The space now features just a handful of elements made from unfussy materials that reflect the simple “paddock-to-plate” ethos that Prior applies to its menu.
      Bricks run across the floor and form the base of the service bar that lies on one side of the room.

      Concrete and terrazzo furniture feature in Ritz&Ghougassian’s minimal cafe interior

      Apricot-hued concrete forms the upper half of the bar and the chunky ledge that runs around its outer side, providing a place for customers to rest beverages or snacks.
      The hot drinks menu is presented on a mirrored panel behind the bar. It stands beside a single shelf that displays a curated selection of wine or bags of coffee which are available to buy.

      Apricot-hued concrete forms the top of the service bar
      “Honest, elegant and refined flavours informed the built environment; by taking a reductive approach to the design both in materiality and form ultimately allowed the food to be the hero,” Ghougassian explained.
      “Rather than simply creating a slick new eatery, there’s a warmth and richness to the space, celebrating the unevenness and rough textures of the walls and floors.”

      Seating throughout the cafe is crafted from Australian Blackbutt wood
      Customers can alternatively dine at the black-steel counters that have been built into the cafe’s front windows or along the seating banquette that runs along the far side of the room, upholstered in chestnut-brown leather.
      The banquette faces onto a row of dining tables which, along with the cafe’s bench-style seats and stools, have been crafted from Australian Blackbutt wood.
      “Like much of our work, using materials that are locally sourced and manufactured is important to us – this brings about an authenticity and specificity to the design that isn’t easily replicated,” added Ghougassian.

      There’s also a brown-leather seating banquette
      At the centre of the floor plan is a box filled with timber logs and a wood burner that the studio hopes will serve as a comforting focal point of the cafe, especially during the chilly winter months.
      Surrounding walls and the ceiling were freshened up with a coat of white paint.

      A wood burner sits at the centre of the cafe
      Ritz & Ghougassian was founded in 2016 by Jean-Paul Ghougassian and Gilad Ritz. Prior isn’t the only cafe that the studio has designed in its home city of Melbourne – back in 2018 it completed Bentwood, which boasts brick-red interiors.
      In 2017, the studio also created Penta, a minimal cafe that features concrete, terrazzo and silver-metal surfaces.
      Photography is by Tom Ross.

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      Biasol channels 1980s nostalgia inside Melbourne restaurant Billie Buoy

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      Design studio Biasol clashed hot pink and midnight blue to form the bold interiors of this 1980s-inspired restaurant in Melbourne, Australia.Billie Buoy occupies a corner plot in Melbourne’s Essendon neighbourhood and has been designed by local studio Biasol as a “1980s character who was radical, hip and a little offbeat”.
      To capture the mood of the 1980s, the studio closely studied the era and its quirky pop culture.

      “We looked back to the days before the internet and cell phones – we dusted off our Atari and Walkman, put a John Hughes movie in the VHS, and jammed to New Order and Madonna,” said the studio.

      “The interiors and branding were developed in unison to create high impact and strengthen Billie Buoy’s appeal.”

      When it came to creating a colour palette for the 60-square-metre restaurant, the studio selected two shades that it felt were synonymous with the 1980s – blue and hot pink.
      Where possible, different textures and materials have been introduced to foster a greater sense of “depth, richness and variation”.

      Midnight-blue paint covers the walls and ceiling. The same hue of felt has been used to upholster the seating banquette that curves around the wall of the entryway and the accompanying stools.
      A mixture of navy and speckled black bricks have then been laid across the floor, while white-terrazzo dining tables inlaid with blue flecks of aggregate have been dotted throughout the dining rooms.
      A glossy, powder-blue service counter that features a bold scallop pattern has also been erected in front of the drinks bar.

      Vibrant hot-pink details come in the form of the coffee grinders and a neon text sign on the wall. A series of vaulted steel storage shelves also appear throughout the restaurant, two behind the bar and three in the entrance dining area which are used to openly display crockery.
      Doorways that lead through to the customer bathrooms and back-of-house facilities for staff are also arched in form.

      Biasol uses green tones for update of Melbourne’s Main Street cafe

      The project also saw Biasol apply midnight-blue paint across the restaurant’s exterior.
      One street-facing wall is emblazoned with the words “wake me up when I’m famous”, which the studio hopes will become a prime spot to snap photos for Instagram.

      Biasol was founded in 2012 by Jean-Pierre Biasol and works out of offices in Melbourne’s Cremorne suburb.
      Billie Buoy is one of several eateries that the studio has designed around the city of Melbourne. Others include Main Street cafe, which is decked out with monochrome tiles and deep-green furnishings, and Pentolina, a pasta bar with worn concrete walls which are meant to emulate the streets of Ancient Rome.
      Photography is by Timothy Kaye.

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      Ruxton Rise Residence in Melbourne is arranged around a planted courtyard

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      A courtyard dotted with olive trees sits at the heart of this grey-brick home in Melbourne that Studio Four has created for its own co-director.Ruxton Rise Residence has been built for Studio Four’s co-director, Sarah Henry, and sits on a greenfield site in Beaumaris – an affluent suburb of Melbourne that’s host to a number of mid-century properties.
      While keeping in mind the mid-century typology, Henry was keen to create a tranquil home where she could spend quality time with her two daughters.

      “Designing for my own family was an opportunity to pare back a home to the bare essentials, and explore what is required for a young family to live minimally and mindfully,” Henry told Dezeen.

      “The house exemplifies the absence of what is not necessary, in both building form and detail,” she continued.
      “If I could summarise the objective for our new house in one sentence, it would be to create a little bit of something precious rather than a lot of something mediocre.”

      All the communal spaces of Ruxton Rise Residence face onto a central open-air courtyard planted with olive trees.
      It’s designed to act as an additional room in the house where inhabitants can gather together to enjoy the sun, or relax alone with a book.

      “Physically the house envelopes the central garden,” explained the studio’s other co-director, Annabelle Berryman.
      “It connects all internal living spaces and the design enables everyone to enjoy the house together, while providing subtle layers of separation and privacy,” she continued.
      “The landscape, and its movement and shadows, provide a calming effect that permeates the whole house.”

      The courtyard is bordered by a series of expansive glazed panels. These can be slid back to access the home’s interior, where the studio has forgone “trends and illusions” and instead applied a palette of simple and natural materials.
      “Our challenge was to design an interior that reflects the integrity of the built fabric and possesses a high level of humility,” said Henry.
      “All materials and building techniques were selected for their honesty, as well as their ability to patina over time, as it is important a house gets more beautiful as it ages.”

      A chunky grey-brick column loosely divides the living area – on one side lies a formal sitting room dressed with a woven rug and a couple of sloping wooden armchairs.
      On the other side is a cosier snug that has a plump navy sofa and a coffee table carved from a solid block of Oregon wood.

      The warmth and tactility of this table encouraged the studio to introduce a wooden dining set in the kitchen – the chairs are by Danish designer Hans J Wegner. Surrounding walls are clad in concrete-bricks, while the cabinetry is pale grey.

      All-white house by Studio Four blends indoor and outdoor spaces

      This austere palette continues through into the sleeping quarters, which are also painted grey. The same concrete bricks have also been used to form the headboard in the master bedroom.

      In the bathrooms, surfaces have been covered with tadelakt – a type of lime-based waterproof plaster often used in Moroccan architecture to make sinks and baths.
      Even the facade of the home, which is slightly set back from the street, has been washed with grey plaster.

      Ruxton Rise Residence is one of several homes that Studio Four has completed in Melbourne.
      Others include Central Park Road Residence, which has cosy interiors inspired by the Danish concept of hygge, and Bourne Road Residence, which has a stark all-white facade.
      Photography is by Shannon Mcgrath.

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    • 150 Shares159 Views

      Winter Architecture contrasts black facade of Melbourne townhouse with minimal white interiors

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      Beyond the black facade of this 1990s townhouse in Melbourne’s South Yarra neighbourhood are a series of simple, white-painted living spaces designed by Winter Architecture. The owners of the South Yarra Townhouse had come to dislike its visually busy interiors and instead wanted a minimalist home “where they wouldn’t see the operations of domestic family
      The post Winter Architecture contrasts black facade of Melbourne townhouse with minimal white interiors appeared first on Dezeen. More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      Studio Edwards arranges yellow steel beams to form modular work pods

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      Studio Edwards has created a series of modular yellow-framed work pods to turn a vacant warehouse space in Melbourne into an office. The pods by Studio Edwards are designed to accommodate groups of up to four members of staff and are constructed from bright-yellow steel beams. These beams can be bolted together and taken apart […] More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      Studio Bright extends Ruckers Hill House to make room for rest and play

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      The two-floor extension that Studio Bright has added to this Edwardian family home in Melbourne includes fun features like a theatre-style sitting room and a pool that resembles a Roman bath. The Edwardian-era home is perched on the peak of Ruckers Hill in Melbourne’s Northcote suburb, looking out over the city. Inside it had a […] More