Krause Emperor bricks from Robertson's Building Products Pty Ltd were part of the natural palette carefully selected for a beautifully designed inner city home in South Melbourne. Weaving their way from the outside to the inside of the house, the bricks connect the two spaces.
Featuring a rectilinear bold form that fronts the street, the home reveals itself inside as a remarkably spacious, warm and comfortable space. Designed by Neil Architecture, the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home looks expansive and generously spaced despite the super tight site, all thanks to the architects’ genuine design skills.
“We always will try to use as many natural materials as possible – stone, timber, bricks. These clients were return clients, we’d done their original house, so they gave us the freedom to explore and push the materiality. Our inclination towards a really natural material palette happened pretty quickly, and we thought we’d go deep on that,” said Jack Carolane from Neil Architecture.
The beautiful natural palette consisting of brilliantly striking contrasts includes sliding perforated steel screens at the street front, a stunning display of Krause Emperor bricks in Ghost, and a natural cedar cladding stained in light grey. Planter boxes around the perimeter provide a layer of green to blur the line between the private house and public streetscape.
Krause’s beautiful texture pairs well with the overall palette, with the bricks weaving their way inside and outside the home to cleverly connect these spaces.
“We chose Krause bricks because they’re locally made and we could be quite specific as to the colour selection used to create the desired aesthetic. The Emperor bricks have a really interesting size, colour and texture. The warmth of the brick in this project was selected to complement the greyer tones of the Spanish travertine floors throughout,” says Carolane.
In addition to the Krause bricks, the natural palette continues inside with the travertine floor as well as a natural grey oak. The sharp contrast is achieved with clever design accents, such as black detailing on the window frames and the fireplace hearth, as well as a beautiful and unexpected burgundy marble in the kitchen.
The bold forms of the outside are complemented by the subtle variation inherent in natural materials. The striking look on this stunning South Melbourne home will continue to evolve beautifully, giving these spaces yet another interesting dimension at different times of the day or year.
Photographer: Hilary Bradford
