Meeting of
When design-led property developers Orchard Piper enlisted a dream team of Australian talent, the collaboration produced masterful results.
OVER THE LAST few years, there’s been an increase in the number of collaborations between forward-thinking property developers and their chosen architects. It’s a significant partnership bearing in mind the often tenuous relationship between the commercial and the creative. Design-led development is gaining traction, fuelled by architectural developers such as Orchard Piper, whose director Luke McKie recognises the importance of using premium materials and responding to the local vernacular in multi-residential. Orchard Piper’s latest project, Huntingtower Road in Melbourne’s leafy Armadale, marks the company’s fifth time working with acclaimed architect Stephen Jolson, and the first as a quartet alongside landscaper Myles Baldwin and Tamsin Johnson who was responsible for the concept phase of the interior fit-out.
Although each designer was entrusted with a clearly defined role, the group synergy resulted in 10 well-resolved and ultrasophisticated double storey, light-drenched residences. Seamless garden-centric living was pivotal to the brief, with Stephen and Myles working closely to maximise the building’s connection to the outdoors. Inspired by European colonnades, Stephen created a series of clean-lined loggias and contemporary arches with split-level forms to frame Myles’ landscaping with its climbers, flowering shrubs and deciduous trees. “The classic render of the architecture made for the perfect backdrop to a highly textural planting scheme,” says Myles, who used lots of mounding shrubbery to “take the edge off the architecture”.
For Orchard Piper, multi-residential is more about a process of “subtraction, rather than addition”, says Luke. “When deciding how many properties to include in a project … it’s not about achieving the maximum yield but maintaining our design standards. That means access to light, dimensions, a certain ‘feel’.” It’s a philosophy that gears their developments towards generous proportions and context – an important factor in today’s urban environments – rather than quantity and density. Taking it to the next level in the company’s ever-evolving sense
The apartments were inspired by European garden villas, with living spaces flowing seamlessly into private outdoor loggias. For this concept-stage render, Tamsin envisaged a living zone fitted with custom furniture and a striking Calder sculpture. Viewed from the street, the facade features a contemporary interpretation of the traditional arch with classical proportions producing artful shadow play. Orchard Piper worked with Space and Poliform on the furnishing scheme for the living area of the completed display suite, with Maxalto ‘Caratos’ armchairs and a B&B Italia ‘Charles’ sofa surrounding a Poliform ‘Soori’ coffee table.
To balance the architecture’s formality, the landscape layers deciduous trees, flowering shrubs and climbers, and groundcovers. Looking into the dining area, this concept-stage render shows Myles’ scheme of loose and clipped foliage. A Cy Twombly artwork is shown with custom furniture inside. In the display suite, the Space team fitted a Lee Broom ‘Orion’ pendant light over the island bench with B&B Italia ‘Jens’ stools tucked below. Shane Pickett artwork from Artbank with Poliform dining table and chairs. Three-metre high ceilings with large windows maximise the light. Natural stone is used throughout. of style meant looking slightly further afield for added “excitement and passion beyond the internal team”, says Luke. “It elevated our thinking. An effective collaboration should shift the project creatively [to] where our way of thinking is enhanced to incorporate an additional perspective.”
While Tamsin had worked with Myles before, she says the opportunity to join Stephen and Orchard Piper was a new and rewarding experience. “It was incredible to work with some of the best in their field. I usually have more of a crossover between architecture, interior design and furnishing but working only on the decorative furnishings for this project was a nice change. It was really enjoyable to complement an existing interior. There was such a holistic approach between the interior and the landscape.”
On the first floor, the building is level with the treetops lining the street, while on the ground floor, private garden terraces were treated as another room, seamlessly extending out from the living spaces. “More important now than ever, the natural world is a calm that’s required in our lives. Stephen recognised this and made apertures to allow in light, views and access to the garden,” says Myles. This interaction between inside and outside was key to the overall concept. “Myles’ attention to detail and careful placement and rotation of trees and plants are as important as the positioning of furniture and sculpture in the way they contribute to the experience of a room or space,” says Stephen.
Stephen, who also credits the work of the extended Jolson team, says the idea was to design a building that “resembled the identity, scale and nature of a single residence within a garden setting”. Carefully articulated floor plans with discrete, selfcontained facilities have broad appeal, some with separate enclosed garages, plunge pools, home theatres, gyms and climatecontrolled wine cellars. As a development, there is no one type of buyer, but the exclusive neighbourhood speaks to a demographic that values refined, long-lasting materials and timeless design such as natural oak floorboards, elegant three-metre high ceilings, large windows and a neutral palette. “Our projects with Orchard Piper are contextual, reflecting each suburb, as the buyers and expectations are different,” says Stephen. It’s a sentiment echoed by Tamsin who says that it became an “exercise in restraint” to ensure that there would be wide-ranging appeal, especially for downsizers or those wanting a new ‘lock-up-andleave’ lifestyle. This meant using a relatively subdued palette but adding some older pieces into the mix, such as mid-century Murano glass, sculptural elements, cosy upholstery and furniture that, as with everything in the property, was custom made. Says Luke of Orchard Piper’s long-term collaborators, “We want everyone coming on this journey with us to feel fulfilled and rewarded with a sense of achievement and pride. So long as this continues, we will keep producing desirable projects.”
huntingtowerroad.com.au; jolson.com.au; mylesbaldwin.com