Grey Scale Eaglemont House

Perched on top of Eaglemont, this architecturally designed house overlooks the Melbourne cityscape. The house has a surprisingly compact footprint, but it is not short on space; sprawling over four levels. However, with that came challenges. In particular, how to treat the double height void above the main living space. This was overcome by cladding the walls in timber and accentuating the fireplace and joinery design.

The client wanted a luxurious house design that suited their active, modern lifestyle, but they didn’t want it to be a clinical white box. They responded well to monolithic forms and materials that convey texture and quality. We derived our concepts from the architecture, and how the spaces relate to each other as well as the exterior landscape.

From the onset, we identified that there needed to be some revisions to the internal layout to accommodate the client’s requests. Resulting in the reconfiguring of the master bedroom wing and the main living space.
The footprint of the main living space was compact, but by taking advantage of the double height void above ensured the space felt generous. This worked by emphasising the height, in designing a fireplace and joinery unit that extended up both levels. The kitchen/dining space adjacent to this area has a reduced ceiling height. To balance the sense of compression felt here we clad the main wall in the same timber used on the feature fireplace wall. This resolve also concealed doors to the butler’s kitchen, study nook, and cellar; and in doing so making a focal point of the kitchen joinery and island bench.

We created the colour palette in response to the clients brief; they wanted a timeless approach with bold elements. Using contrasting timber finishes in conjunction natural stone. We played up on the base palette with pops of claret, pink and navy to add interest.

Design: Christopher Ellliott Design
Photography: Jack Lovel