The Petruccelli House | McBride Charles Ryan

This house, set in a leafy street in Camberwell, is constructed primarily over a single level, which rests upon a lower level garage and entry foyer. On the main level, two forms containing the living and bedroom zones are slipped past each other, reducing the form at that street and creating a semi private front patio. The house actually appears to be much smaller than actuality and significant landscaping encases the front. The street frontage of the living zone is articulate by blades of copper cladding that resolve the opposing requirements for a view whilst maintaining privacy in close proximity to the street. In the entry foyer the fall of the site allows for a 2m+ window with underwater views into the end of the lap pool, which surprise visitors with a unique and sensual experience upon entry into the house. The pool holds the house together, experienced as a continuum throughout the entire house, except the bedrooms, it allows for a distinct holiday feel. Open the front door and you are greeted by the window to the pool; the play of light on the water or underwater legs set the scene. Up the stairs and you’re facing the bar (kitchen bench with upstand). Down the hallway (bedroom zone) you pass the rear pool deck and end up at the games room. The client is a photographer and is used to looking at things in the finest detail; this interest in perfection has transferred to the house. Refinement became an obsession from the even distribution of tiny pebbles to the basket weaving of bluestone as a wall for the entire length of the staircase. Finish and textures were paramount. Sumptuous and reflective materials add a distinct feeling of luxury. The upholstered bed head/ dividing wall in purple-red shot silk in the main bedroom alludes to a ritzy hotel. Metallic glazed tiles in the pool and bathrooms evoke likewise. The face of the kitchen bench in a polished and textured stainless steel could be transposed as cladding to a bar or a foyer of the best establishments. Parents and teenagers can co-exist. Parents can retreat to the lounge room or the study at the front of the house and take in the wonderful views above the valley of trees and houses. The children’s bedrooms feature dynamic built in joinery units, and the space toward the back of the house operates flexibly as either a games area or a secondary lounge space.