Creative Havens Smart, stylish, sustainable homes
Having banished the gloom of its previous set-up, two Melbourne film producers are enjoying the lightness of being in their gently unfolding home.
Located in a Victorian-era streetscape in inner Melbourne is a unique doublefronted home that’s part 1927 weatherboard, part contemporary oasis. Designed by Austin Maynard Architects, the three-bedroom house is light-filled and welcoming from the moment you step through the glossy red front door. It’s home and workplace to India-born Rahul Prasad, his English wife Angela Perry and their three pampered cats – Sheeba, Bindi and Strife – who inspired the name of the couple’s film-production company, Three Cats in Limbo (@perryprasada).
Angelapurchasedthe309m2propertyin2000andonlymadeafewcosmeticchanges: a kitchen update with new appliances and a small rear deck. After she met Rahul in 2007, the pair travelled extensively in Europe and found ideas for a bigger home in some of the cities they visited, especially Barcelona. In 2013 they came across the envelope-pushing houses of architectural firm Austin Maynard Architects. “Their work is unique and there’s a sense of playfulness in their designs,” says Rahul, who was also impressed by their commitment to sustainability.
‘THE JAPANESE GARDENS AREA NOD TO OUR BUDDHIST BELIEFS AND
ALSO INFLUENCED BY OUR VISITS TOKYO TO AND THE MONASTERIES OFKOYA SAN .’ Rahul
Once the planning stage was complete, an addition that had been tacked onto the back of the house was removed and two distinct but interconnected pavilions were added to the north-facing garden. One houses the main bedroom and ensuite; the other is an office directly above the deck, accessed via a red spiral staircase.
In the main part of the house, two of the three bedrooms were overhauled with built-in storage, hydronic heating and new tiles in the fireplaces; the third became a laundry and bathroom. The kitchen/dining space and deck were also reworked to deliver the sense of indoor-outdoor living the couple craved. With their design for the back area, the architects wanted the rear elevation of Kiah House, as they call it, to be as engaging as thefa ca de, hence the striking spotted gum-clad extension and its artwork. “The mural has a strong organic feel, as though it’s a living creature,” says Rahul.
One of the areas Rahul and Angela love most, however, is the main bedroom and its recycled brick-lined ensuite with Japanese-style sunken bath and adjacent lightwell/ pocket garden. While automated steel louvres ensure privacy on the road side, its
large sliding doors can be pulled back completely, allowing the lemon-scented gum tree in the yard to become part of the bedroom. The tree is enclosed by a small deck so that Angela can sit and meditate beneath it in the summer months.
Both front and rear gardens were designed by artist Akira Takizawa and constructed by Damon Fuhrer Landscapes. Their rock walls, Japanese maples and the continuous sound of running water in ponds and features give the home a sense of tranquillity. Among the many featured plants are bamboo, lomandra, mondo grass and magnolia.
Multicultural and layered, this house embodies the dynamic of moving between East and West, as its owners do. Interior decorator Amanda Grillini helped source most of the furniture and lights, while Rahul brought in the work of artist friends, whose work is displayed in perspex boxes lining the hall and elsewhere. All up, it’s a vibrant mix that perfectly reflects the open and generous natures of its inhabitants. # Austin Maynard Architects, Brunswick, Victoria, NSW; maynardarchitects.com. Kiah House is open to the public on July 29 & 30; openhousemelbourne.org.