Knock Down Rebuild, New Contemporary Home

A bespoke contemporary family home by Chadwick Architects + Interiors

Project Overview

The Beatrice Street Residence is a new custom-designed family home in Yarraville, Melbourne, created by Chadwick Architects + Interiors, an award-winning Melbourne architecture and interior design practice. Designed for a young family who wanted an original and bespoke piece of architecture that reflected their own style, the home is a refined example of contemporary Australian residential architecture.

Rather than adopting a standard family-home formula, Chadwick Architects worked closely with the clients to produce a design that is personal, enduring and quietly distinctive within its established inner-west streetscape.

Architectural Design: A Home Organised Around a Courtyard Pool

The home is organised around a central courtyard pool, the heart of the design. Rather than sitting at the end of the garden, the pool is woven into daily life. It brings moments of magic and excitement throughout every season and extends the sense of space and light well beyond the interior.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing and black-framed sliding doors connect the open-plan kitchen, dining and living areas directly to the water. Upper-level windows look down over the courtyard, so the pool is a constant visual presence from both storeys. A covered alfresco terrace with timber screening, ceiling fan and heating sits alongside the pool, giving the family an all-weather outdoor living room and a seamless link to the rear lawn.

Materiality: Brick, Aluminium and Glass

The home uses a simple and refined palette of brick, aluminium and glass, giving a sense of solidity and timelessness in a distinctly contemporary way.

• Pale, textured brick forms the ground-level façade, including a gently curved entry wall that softens the street presence and welcomes visitors to the front door.

• Dark aluminium cladding wraps the upper level in a sculptural, floating volume. Vertical fins and perforated metal screening add depth, privacy and a play of light and shadow.

• Black-framed glazing adds crisp definition and brings generous natural light into every room.

• Warm timber screening and oak joinery soften the monochrome exterior and bring warmth into the landscape and interiors.

The result is a home that sits comfortably alongside Yarraville's heritage character while clearly belonging to the present.

Interior Design by Chadwick Architects + Interiors

As an integrated architecture and interior design practice, Chadwick designed the interiors together with the architecture. This gives the home a consistent language from façade to fixtures.

• Kitchen, dining and living: an open-plan space with warm oak cabinetry, black joinery accents, a stone-topped island, a mirrored splashback and wide oak floorboards. Tall black-framed doors frame views of the garden.

• Bedrooms and retreat spaces: soft, light-filled rooms with sheer curtains, tonal palettes and fine timber detailing.

• Walk-in robe: floor-to-ceiling oak joinery, a floating stone-topped dressing table and a full-height mirror.

• Bathrooms: textured vertical tiles, large-format stone-look porcelain, floating oak vanities, honed stone benchtops, brushed fittings and an arched mirror.

• Stairwell: a sculptural, light-filled circulation space with carpeted stairs and black metal handrails.

About Chadwick Architects + Interiors

Chadwick Architects + Interiors is a Melbourne-based practice recognised among the best architects in Australia and the best interior designers in Australia. The studio delivers bespoke residential architecture, custom homes, renovations and extensions, and integrated interior design. Its work combines refined materiality, thoughtful planning and a close understanding of how people live, producing homes that are as functional as they are beautiful.

If you are planning a custom home, a luxury renovation or a complete architecture and interior design package in Melbourne, contact Chadwick Architects + Interiors to discuss your project.