Perched on the lush floodplain of the Birrarung River in Kew, Victoria, Edition Office re-imagines a site that once housed a Mediterranean Revival-style home from the 1980s, transforming it into a contemporary ode to nature.
Enveloped in a thick tapestry of native flora, this contemporary residence facilitates a seamless interaction with the landscape, celebrating the unique ecological palette of its surroundings.
Photography above by Maxime Delvaux.
Drawing inspiration from the lush forests depicted in Grant Nimmo’s paintings, the architects structured the building around a series of spatial sequences that shift and overlap within the landscape.
Prioritizing immersion in its verdant context, two wings distinct in function—one open and fluid, the other more closed and contemplative.
This arrangement guides residents through the interiors while subtly engaging with the organic contours of the property.
Materials play a crucial role in expressing the project’s ethos of connectivity with nature.
The exterior features smoothly cornered timber walls that exude warmth and tactility, enhanced by a slender timber batten screen that filters light and invites glimpses of the encroaching foliage.
This intentional design flow is complemented by the collaboration with Eckersley’s Garden Architecture, which intricately weaves the home into its lush setting.
The planting strategy reinforces this immersive experience.
The landscape is heavily planted, with dense foliage wrapping around each room, ensuring that seasonal changes in color and texture are always at the forefront of daily life.
Lower levels are populated with robust undergrowth that encourages exploration and interaction, while voids carved into the landscape make way for taller trees.
These design choices conceive a multi-layered environment, inviting a sense of discovery and engagement with the variations of the natural world.
Spatially, the arrangement of the home enhances its relationship with the land.
The elevated main living space provides expansive views, merging the interior with the wild beauty outside.
As residents transition through the two wings—one devoted to communal living and the other to personal retreat—they traverse spaces that feel both intimate and expansive.
Large supporting feet anchor the structure, defining pockets of activity and quietude amidst the landscape, while the interplay of shadow and light creates a dynamic architectural experience.
This thoughtful dialogue between architecture and landscape culminates in an environment where every vantage point is framed by thriving vegetation.
The “House in a Garden” not only facilitates a unique living experience but also fosters a profound connection to the surrounding ecosystem.
With its dedication to sustainability and an innovative approach to indoor-outdoor relationships, the home stands as a testament to what residential design can achieve when it prioritizes both beauty and ecological integrity.
Here, the essence of living is distinctly tied to the beauty of the forest, reminding inhabitants of their place within nature, rather than apart from it.
Edition Office operates as a design practice grounded in cultural, social, and technological inquiry, using architecture as a framework to test material expression, form, and spatial relationships.
Their work is shaped through experience, positioning buildings as mediums that recalibrate how people engage with each other and with place. Across projects, architecture is used to establish connections and interfaces that extend beyond the immediate occupants, engaging the broader public realm while prompting reflection and interaction.
Working across residential, institutional, commercial, education, urban design, and interiors, the studio approaches each commission through a consistent lens—where spatial composition, material articulation, and context operate as interconnected systems rather than isolated decisions.
Credits:
Architects: Edition Office
Landscape Architecture: Eckersley Garden
Photographer: Maxime Delvaux
Source: BowerBird
