Residential
Hawthorn Garden House
A whole-home scheme for a contemporary family house, where light follows the family from dawn to dusk.
- Category
- Residential
- Location
- Hawthorn, Melbourne
- Year
- 2023
- Scope
- Architectural · Landscape · Control
The Brief
Understanding how the space needed to feel
The owners of a newly built family home wanted lighting that disappeared into the architecture by day and became a series of intimate rooms by night. They were wary of the over-lit, downlight-studded ceilings of their previous house and asked for restraint, warmth and simple control the whole family could use.
Our Approach
Designing the scheme
We worked from the joinery outwards, layering linear lighting into shadow gaps, reveals and the underside of stairs so the sources stay hidden. Decorative pendants mark the kitchen island and dining table, the garden was lit to extend the living spaces visually after dark, and the entire home runs on a keypad system with intuitive, named scenes.
The Outcome
Living with the result
By day the ceilings are almost entirely free of fittings, just clean plaster and daylight. By night the home folds down into pools of warm light around the people using it, the garden becomes a lit backdrop to every room, and a single keypad press takes the house from dinner to wind-down.
In Detail
Work With Us
Considering light for your own project?
Our Prahran studio takes on a small number of projects at a time so each receives our full attention. We would love to hear what you are planning.