2018 Musk Creek Residence
2019 Point Nepean Residence
2019 Mermaid Beach Residence
2017 St Vincents Place Residence
2017 Armadale Residence
2016 Kooyongkoot Road Residence
2016 Canterbury Road Residence
2015 East Melbourne Apartments
2015 Hopetoun Road Residence
2014 Hopetoun Avenue Residence
2014 Neue Black Workplace
2014 Canterbury Road Residence
2014 Winter Street Residence
2013 Park Street Residence
2013 Mountview Road Residence
2012 Cassell Street Residence
2010 Walsh Street Apartments
2009 Blake Street Residence
2009 Seacombe Grove Residence
2009 Canterbury Road Apartments
2008 Fawkner Street Residence
2008 B.E Architecture Workplace
2005 57 Tivoli Road Residence
2005 Whitehall Road Residence
2004 Wilson Street Workplace
2002 Meakins Road Residence
2002 Ross Street Residence
2001 Hawksburn Close Residence
2001 Hawksburn Road Residence
2000 Wellington Street Apartments
The Musk Creek Residence was designed for a couple from the city and their three dogs retiring to a coastline farm. The low-slung modern pavilion is positioned atop a steeply sloping block of the land with breath-taking views of the western port, complete with an internal garden protected from the strong ocean winds.
A recently completed beachfront project of the Point Nepean Residence. The house, built from imported Travertine and clad with sustainably sourced teak, looks out over the thick native flora to Portsea Pier and Port Phillip Bay.
The Mermaid Beach Residence is a dialogue between architecture and the intrinsic human desire for permanence, in direct contrast with the impermanence of the coastline atop which the home was built. The locality of Mermaid Beach often contends with cyclonic winds. These environmental factors meant that the architecture had to speak to these fundamental considerations by providing both privacy for the residents, and protection from the often volatile weather conditions. At the same time, the clients wanted a relaxed, open, sun-drenched family home which opened directly onto the beach.
As a modern renaissance home, the St Vincents Place Residence is a new archetype developed through reinterpretation of classical references with a modern sensibility. The client, as a patron, put his belief in architecture, artists and artisans to create a nourishing environment that goes beyond surface treatments by inscribing contemplative experiences into the physical form. Combining history, art and culture, the St Vincents Place Residence is ultimately a place of rebirth, simultaneously reviving an exceptional period home and cultivating a place of renewal that elevates quality of life for the client.
The overall feeling of the three-storey residence in Armadale is lightness - almost an ethereal floating quality created by the sun refracting over the granite façade. This is a contradiction to the reality of the 260 tonnes of granite which make up the building’s skin. The resolution of the monolithic structure looks as though it could have been carved from a single stone. While there is permanence to the structure, the internal spaces are light and open, particularly in the living area where the fully retractable glazed doors open onto the adjacent courtyard.
The Kooyoonkoot Road Residence is a compact design on a smaller site. The two story form has been designed around a north facing courtyard and pool. The building’s polished cement render facade is punctuated with black steel plate detailing. The entry to the building is accentuated by a staged experience through a glazed two-story external space before entering the main structure. The layout is on a simple cruciform grid positioned so an occupant is always walking towards light.
Like a naturally occurring trilithon found in rock formations, the Canterbury Road Residence is made up of three simple structures clad in rough lava stone stacked to form a contemplative passageway. The separation between the forms is made apparent as though they are three large boulders leaning on one another. The organic nature of the hand-laid stone walls draws one from the street into the heart of the house; the upper level forms the lintel over the entry.
Our design response for the East Melbourne Development is fundamentally a response to the surrounding area, embracing the heritage aspect of the site. It breaks down and reinterprets the components of a traditional Victorian house like those that line street – using the iconic front terrace, cornice, balcony, balustrade and side walls. With the same formality and modularity, the larger building is articulated so that the structure appears as a series of attached 4 story structures harking back to the brownstones of New York and the Victorian row houses in London, each with a subtle sense of individuality.
The approach for the renovation and extension of the Hopetoun Road Residence is to retain the existing structure as an anchoring element, adding a series of pavilions underneath a floating copper roofline that wraps around the original building. Embracing the client’s desire to maintain a fairly conventional residential structure, the design strengthens the form by creating a gable façade at the front and back with a clearly defined outline. Clad in polished grey render, the gables emphasize solidity and give the house a re-established sense of history and permanence. In contrast the extensions, composed as ribbons of copper wrapping around the solid structure, sit softly above recessed glazed pavilions.
Hopetoun Avenue is a renovation and extension to a period home in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse. An intentional point of difference to the solidity of the existing sandstone house, the new addition is a light intervention that emerges from the canopy of an existing mature lemon-scented gum tree. The design integrates the established tree allowing it to remain the dominant feature on the site. Built around the trunk, the substantial structure is made from suspended off-form concrete with solid timber infills suspended over the roots of the ancient tree. The roof of the house intersects with the tree so that the upper level sits in the branches overlooking views to the Sydney Harbour.
Neue Black is an innovate mortgage broker in South Yarra that wanted to create a distinct identity appealing to all generations. While quite refined, the office is more like a studio with a relaxed open plan. Use of an irregular patterned steel-framed glass wall provides separation whilst maintaining an open feel. The finishes and furnishings are an eclectic mix that is less about luxury and more about creating a memorable space. It is a comfortable setting suited to a financial company for today. This project was previously Mortgage Choice, South Yarra.
A traditional Victorian home in Middle Park, the Canterbury Road Residence was an opportunity to rethink a series of custom details to suit the context of the original house and the clients’ strong appreciation for decorative elements from that era. Among these elements is a custom door surround made from colourful slices of agate, a new stair with a softly curving handrail, large arched doorways, coved cornices, and custom carved ceiling details all reinterpreted to sit quietly in the Victorian home. Separated by an internal courtyard with a high planted wall, the back of the house is an informal living room and kitchen opening on to a simple form, creating a new studio/retreat along the laneway. The house is an expression of the clients it was built for through a collaborative design process. Their open-mindedness and willingness to take a leap of faith where drawings could not tell the whole story were a real asset to the project.
The renovation and extension to the double fronted Victorian house on Winter Street works with the separation between old and new, maintaining only three original masonry walls. The main entry is shifted along the side of the house where the two buildings meet. The original house is finished in reinterpreted detailing and the new extension uses modern lines and expansive glazing. The clients’ appreciation of chiaroscuro is seen in the dark elements such as the timber joinery, custom terrazzo flooring and black steel detailing in the light space. Working with the north facing orientation, a series of gardens including a central courtyard get bring light into the rear extension.
The Park Street House uncovers a new life for the traditional period house, creating a family home for three generations of inhabitants. The design reinterprets traditional elements to reveal the legacy of time. The façade is uncovered to expose the original ornate concrete and brick work as well as noticeable patches to show the building’s history. The interiors are characterised by a reduced ornamentation, referencing the grandiose qualities of the original structure. Every surface is treated with upgraded finishes including wood panelling and extensive joinery. Honest materiality and quality craftsmanship to tell the story of the past whilst supporting the modern purpose.
The subtle, stacked limestone house is a contemporary reinterpretation of a traditional building. The design responds to the clients’ brief for a new home with a sense of establishment. Distinguishing the two storey main house from the modern single level extensions employs a zoned planning strategy creating a feeling of hierarchy throughout. The front house embraces the smaller proportions of traditional rooms to create intimate spaces and the detailing draws from the decorative techniques and craftsmanship from that era. In contrast, the extended zones are characterised by a dark bronzed metal cladding, open layouts and expansive glazing.
The house on Cassell Street is referential of an ancient Byzantine building. The strong rectilinear form, made from natural stone, has a quality of looking older than it is – as though it could have been standing in the same place unchanged for a hundred years or existed in another world all together. Positioned on a corner block, the façade uses bespoke materials on the upper level appropriate for its high visibility from the street. The subtle bandings of travertine is made up from 10 different sized slabs of stone hand selected from opposite sides of the same quarry to produce two distinct tones.
Walsh Street Apartments is a boutique development that has the scale and appearance of a single residence. The owners are one of two: not one of forty. Externally, each residence is given a unique identity with their own unique cladding and within a high level of privacy creates further separation. Both apartments provide generous space, natural lighting and bespoke detailing that is more in line with luxury houses than apartments. A handmade quality is evident in upgraded custom details, such as the steel stair rail that curves to the palm of the hand as well as the materials in refined stone and timber.
The Blake Street Residence investigates a typology of coastal architecture which responded primarily to the ruggedness of its Australian landscape setting. A massive Maffra stone podium made with rudimentary construction creates a solid connection to the ground. In contrast, the upper level in timber cladding is a lighter counterpart. Internally, the high ceilings follow the sloping roofline over a variety of multifunctional spaces with verdant outlooks.
The property at Seacombe Grove was positioned with a continuous green space surrounding the building rather than just a front or back garden. Surrounded on all sides with fencing, the interior spaces use floor to ceiling glazing to create picturesque planted views, bringing the outdoors in. The exposure to the exterior influenced that the layout of the interior spaces in two zones to best use the natural elements: day/summer zone and night/winter zone. Casual living areas integrated with the pool, summer areas, face north and west to take advantage of the daytime sun.
Canterbury Road is a four story building consisting of separate apartments designed for two brothers. The clients responded to the proportions and formality of a classical colonnade. This was incorporated into the polished rendered structure that is used to create rationale for the stepping of the building that was required to meet sightline regulations. A clean-lined aesthetic is carried into the interior with white walls and thin steel details. Each apartment contains a high level of privacy that facilitates multi residential living.
Fawkner Street Residence is a renovation and extension to a double-fronted single level terrace residence in South Yarra. Removing elements of a 1980’s renovation, the building is brought back to its shell and the original house was finished with B.E Architecture’s own interpretation of period detailing. The main focus is around the large kitchen extension into the new garden. The unused laneway was converted into a Japanese onsen with a circular stillwater bath and steamroom.
After 10 years of working in Melbourne’s CBD, the B.E Architecture Workplace is a renovation to an existing office space in Prahran. The layout is updated to open plan workstations as well as a conference room and tea room that doubles as a second conference room when needed. The traditional suspended ceilings are removed to expose the concrete structure above. The resulting high ceilings and large walls allow the B.E Architecture art collection to be displayed including works by Brook Andrew, David Noonan, Mike Parr, Hany Armanious, Bill Henson and Chuck Close.
The house at 57 Tivoli Road, formally one of a series of attached row houses of disparate housing styles, forms a modern bookend to the procession of houses. The narrow, sloping, corner site presented the opportunity to build across the full width of the block through one singular architectural from. The exterior is clad in a custom engineered pattern of locally sourced bluestone; the interior in timber, a material favoured by the clients. The panelling includes an angular timber feature stair and bunk rooms for the client’s grandchildren, fashioned to reference train carriages.
The country home in Mornington Peninsula is positioned on a steeply sloping sight that overlooks the surrounding farms to the ocean beyond. Rather than immediate access to views, there is a 5 m high rough stone wall cutting across the block as a barrier, giving little away on first impression. Once within the house, a composed delivery of views gradually reveals the vast landscape opening onto an isolated pool area. The house consists of three separate structures providing private zones to accommodate visitors. These are connected by glazed links and walkways covered in rough sawn cypress timber forming outdoor gathering spaces.
As the headquarters for a Singaporean shipping company, Wilson Street was designed to make best use of the narrow 5.5 metre wide site on an industrial street. The building façade is made from operable glass windows and an exoskeleton of Guinness-coloured concrete columns extending above the top level creating a glass covered rooftop garden. Floor plates are set back from the façade bringing in light and giving views up through all levels of the building. Staff and visitors are drawn up to the first level where office spaces are positioned above the street for an undisturbed working environment.
Set on 100 acres in coastal Victoria, this site was bare of vegetation except for a 100-year-old row of Cypress trees. The design was based around a series of sunken walled courtyards to create immediately useable outdoor areas in the windswept environment. The extensive steel and timber exoskeleton was designed in response to the traditional wrap-around veranda of the local farmhouses. The massive steel and timber portal frames capture and frame the rural pastoral views from within the building. The sleeping area with a library is separated from the main structure via man-made waterscape between the buildings accessed by a suspended glazed walkway.
Designed for a Singaporean couple who wanted their home to reflect their heritage, Ross Street is based on a traditional style courtyard house. The front and back are intentionally austere and celebrate privacy created by the inward-facing design. Under a canopy of maple trees, the entrance is on the side of the building bringing visitors directly to the heart of the house. An open plan positions the living spaces around a central courtyard with a single Mount Fugi Cherry Tree, so that every space has outlooks and sightlines through the house. Natural render and unified use of concrete floors internally and externally provide an enduring materiality that gets better with the passage of time.
On a block of land totalling 80sqm located off a laneway, a house is built where there once was a series of back yards. Made with proportions more like a dwelling in Japan, the building is a series of rooms where it is essential that space is optimised. Like many buildings by B.E Architecture, the spaces feel large in comparison to the overall building footprint. The narrow double story building uses concrete for the exterior and as a finished surface in the interiors.
With only one small window on the front façade, the architecture for Hawksburn Road Residence is an exploration of the notion of a sequenced arrival. The passageway into the house is sunken into the ground with a large bookshelf acting as a display gallery and reading nook in the sun. Open sightlines create a journey through the house including several purpose-built elements that respond to its use specific to the clients. There is a long suspended pond with plants and fish and custom-made saddle storage under the stair.
Wellington Street is an apartment complex designed for Frank Pty. Set in an infill site on a commercial strip in St. Kilda, the multi use development on Wellington Street is built as a live/work model from another era. The site consists of four working studios on the ground level with independent three storey dwellings above. A light well brings daylight into the centre of the development and the use of glass bricks provides filtered light for the inward facing units. The façade is setback from the street providing a private planted garden protected by a high fence. Along the front, the latin phrase “vertus per simplicitus”, meaning “virtue through simplicity”, is cast into the concrete to give the building an individual identity.