DKO | Carlton Home

After flying in late last night from Brisbane I'm in catch up mode and juggling the first day of school holidays. I had an amazing few days away but I was really looking forward to seeing my boys and didn't mind one bit when they jumped in our bed early this morning for cuddles! So it's a quick post today, but hopefully this home will wow you as much as it has me. 

The work of DKO, one of Australia's leading design houses specialising in residential architecture, it was the exterior of this home in Carlton, Melbourne that stopped me in my tracks. The Heritage facade, and addition of a carefully placed metal 'floating' box has resulted in a seamless yet striking contrast between old and new. The new insertion was cleverly created through the design of a 'shadow line' between the first and second level, in order for the heritage building to appear like it hasn't been touched from its beautiful history. What's more, the perforated metal facade pattern has a representational pattern of the church St.Jude located close by. DKO have shown respect and sensitivity to the area's culture and in doing so are giving a bit of history back to the site. The perforated metal screens open to allow solar access and cross ventilation to the apartments, and can also be closed to create privacy. 

Reading about DKO's methodology made me think of renowned designer Ilse Crawford, whose book A Frame for Life I have been recently studying. Much like her belief in putting the human at the centre of design, DKO puts the user front and centre. Rather than creating iconic architecture which can often lose sight of the people who bring a project to life, DKO pride themselves on creating spaces that are exciting to experience. Jesse Linardi, DKO design director  says 'We are passionate about the relationship between people and their environment and consistently push the boundaries of urban design.’ Principal Koos De Keijzer agrees – ‘All our buildings are considered with the inhabitant as well as the environment in mind. We analyse how people live, work and play, and this informs our architecture. This is an integral part of what we do as designers.’

Imagery by Gabriel Saunders

DKO have offices in Victoria, NSW and Auckland, New Zealand. To see more of their work take a look here. 

Images via DKO 

A while ago I was interviewed by the new Interior Design company Room by Room and it went live on their blog just before I went away last week. The brainchild of super-talented interior design duo Lizzi Hines and Jess White, this unique interactive service was created to help people bring their vision and design ideas to life. Make sure you check them out, and you can have a read of my little Q&A while you're there!