You recently designed the Mt Martha home – how do you approach a new architectural brief, and what’s your creative process?
Our number one rule is that we must listen to the client and endeavour to fully understand what they want to achieve and how they live. At the end of the day it is their home, they need to be happy and comfortable there. Secondly, we need to unpack all the site constraints and opportunities, ensuring we fully understand critical viewlines, sun paths and other climate considerations such as sea-breezes, etc. Beyond that, planning constraints also need to be fully understood before spatial layouts, three-dimensional form making or materiality come into the process.
Mt Martha was a very successful project, as the client approached us before they even had found a site, and I visited multiple properties with them, worked through feasibilities, and got to know them through this early stage process which really helped shape the project.
Walk us through your decision-making process for materiality and structural elements in the Mt Martha home.
Mount Martha was presented with an amazing scope for capturing views – but in a very exposed location – not only a salt-laden environment which drives selection of low maintenance materials, but also the orientation of outlook in this part of Mt Martha is critical – balancing key viewlines with the impact of low westerly sun and reflection of that off Port Philip Bay was a driving factor behind the site layout and orientation of living spaces.
