Australia: The monumental house on Adelaide Street

 Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country, Melbourne

Architecture and Interior Design: Robert Simeoni Architects

Photos  ©  Trevor Mein, Thurston Empson

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A new three-level monumental house by leading Melbourne-based architect Robert Simeoni. The architect has designed and built several successful concrete houses. The new 900 square metre original building exudes tactility and warmth. The house is located on a green street with buildings in different styles.

The house was built for the developer, his wife and four young children. 

Robert Simeoni:

The house has been designed to respond to a growing family over a lifetime, keeping in mind flexibility and the need to create more private spaces as the children become teenagers and then young adults.”

Like the staircase, the kitchen was also treated more than simply as a functional element. Featuring a combination of green/grey marble it’s as much as an object or sculptural form. Framed with black-stained timber joinery, with the deliberate omission of overhead cupboards, the kitchen is placed in a similar hierarchy of spaces as the other living areas.

The in-situ concrete not only features on the exterior walls, but also inside, expressed in walls and ceilings.

Robert Simeoni:

“It’s the type of material that you have to get right on the first go. There are always the slight imperfections which form part of its character, but you certainly can’t conceal mistakes. It feels like silk and takes on a different ambience depending how the light responds to it at different times of the day."

Robert Simeoni:

“Light is generally seen as a way of illuminating a space but it can also be used to add drama.” 

Nearing completion.... :