Hill House

The Challenge

what makes a house a home?

The clients of Hill House, a busy couple and their young son, contacted us with a property in the leafy south-east Melbourne suburb of Wheelers Hill. The site was bounded by open parkland on two sides and boasted views to the peaks of the Dandenong Ranges. The brief was for a new family home. One to see their son comfortable as he moved through childhood, into his teens and beyond, and also to welcome and accommodate the needs of visiting family.

Early on it became apparent that there was a deep-seeded desire driving this project which had nothing to do with the tangible aspects of architecture, but with what it symbolised - the desire to make a ‘home’. Tapping into what this meant for our clients, and how we could reflect it authentically, became crucial in the success of this beautiful family home.

What if …

there is more to the brief than meets the eye?

The functional brief was not unconventional - four bedrooms, a central hub around meals and a range of indoor and outdoor leisure spaces to cater for various family activities. What was more intriguing was a central belief that the home should reflect a meaningful expression of identity, and the desire for this to be fundamental in the conception of the home.

It was clear that the clients, both first generation Indian migrants, did not mean for this to result in an homage to their homeland. They wanted a home that respected their strong ties to their cultural heritage but equally reflected their gratitude for the life they had made for themselves, and their family, in their adopted home.

At risk of the project becoming cliché or pastiche, we listened carefully to the clients’ story and also to their hopes and aspirations, to tease out and understand their vision of what signified home.

" 'A house can have integrity, just like a person.' We wanted a house that was true to its purpose, was simple, yet had character and we are grateful to Inbetween Architecture for building a house that truly reflects that."

/ KRATI & SACHIN - OWNERS /

Feels like Home

drawing on the familiar

From outside, Hill House takes cues from the housing style of the surrounding area, typical of the late 70s and 80s and characterised by large sloping roofs and dramatic raked ceilings. Viewed square on, the street presentation echoes the simple geometries of a child’s drawing, complete with ‘chimney’, symbolic references to a cultural understanding of home.

Moving inside the references become more personal and informed by memory and the clients’ heritage. Drawing on the memory of homes from their childhoods, the clients did not shy away from the prominent use of timber, pattern, texture and moments of joyful colour. Bold splashes of green encourage the outside in, warm reds and burgundies provide focal points and coloured glass varies with intensity as the quality of light changes throughout the day and year. These bold elements offset by an otherwise muted base sit confidently alongside the clients’ collections, furniture and artworks, blurring the distinction between built element and decoration, deeply infusing the home with their personality.

It was important that the home be well organised, and feel easy to live in. That it be purposeful – with spaces and places for this family of 3 to come together and also to retreat and pursue their individual passions. Inclusions had to have meaning, such a commissioned artwork for the entry, a custom ‘live edge’ timber study desk and a special attention to the needs of the four-legged family member.

Moments of Delight

celebration of little things

There was a strong sense of gratitude throughout this project, which only strengthened as the pandemic hit and the build became a welcome distraction amid events unfolding at home and across the globe. Even before this, the clients were acutely aware that they were building a sanctuary. Away from their stressful and demanding professional lives, this home was to be a place to feel safe and recharge, to find calm and nurture joy.

At times we thought of this house as a jewel box. A collection of beautiful pieces, to be enjoyed and admired one by one, each triggering a memory or meaning but also beautiful in their own right. It is a joy for us as the architects to think of the owners now well settled into their home, moving through the house and catching a glimpse of a moment or detail and enjoying it for what it evokes or for the memory of its making, but sometimes simply for its own sake.