Modern Practicality – Alvie House by Damian Orlando Design and Rachcoff Vella

The greatest insight into a brand or person can often be obtained by observing the space where they reside. In the case of Thermeco Managing Director Carl Costabile, the inherent focus on practicality, beauty and style upon which he has built the Thermeco brand is evident in every facet of his recently completed home, Alvie House.

Designed by Damian Orlando Design and long-time Thermeco collaborator Rachcoff Vella, Alvie House is known as Carl’s “hidden haven”, an urban retreat where solitude and inspiration can be found. Located on the top of a hill, with vistas of the Riversdale golf course and the bright lights of Melbourne’s CBD in the distance, the home is imbued with an innate sense of tranquillity and calm far removed from the at times fast-paced design industry. The overtly modest and minimal design ensures the home favours function over form, ultimately creating a space that is comfortable and purposeful. Embracing a warm sense of familiarity, Carl and the design team wanted Alvie House to feel enveloping and protective whilst also featuring strong connections with its natural surrounds.

The overtly modest and minimal design ensures the home favours function over form, ultimately creating a space that is comfortable and purposeful.

Intrinsically linked in design and development, Alvie House is the consummate case study for Thermeco, a brand that prides itself on designing and developing windows and doors for meaningful living, pushing the boundaries of innovation to enhance greater connections between people and planet. The considered design elements are subtle in nature yet powerful in application, creating a welcoming quality that flows through both Carl’s home and business. By contrasting and mixing tonal layers of texture, the enriching materiality offers a tactile intimacy that is further emphasised by formal curved gestures throughout. Each space has its own identity, all with a combined natural and timeless approach, creating a home that is designed to spark inspiration and innovation.

The materiality in the home is a strong reflection of Carl’s design inclinations, featuring a palette of concrete and natural timbers, offset by playful moments of brass and ceramic tiling. The warm timber tones and brutal beauty of concrete are connected through an openness in planning, whilst large glazing elements bridge the conversation between built and natural environments. Softer elements are also intertwined in the interior to create a balance, though still allowing the home to feel like a statement in and of itself.

Intrinsically linked in design and development, Alvie House is the consummate case study for Thermeco, a brand that prides itself on designing and developing windows and doors for meaningful living, pushing the boundaries of innovation to enhance greater connections between people and planet.

In keeping with the tranquillity emanating throughout the home, the connection to the external environment is highlighted in the volume of the main living space, which features full-height glazing using Thermeco’s award-winning Slimline Sliding System. A key insight into the beauty, practicality and sustainability of the Thermeco product, the fully rebated west-facing doors reach an impressive height of 3.5 metres and a width of 10 metres. These thermally broken profiles offer superior energy efficiency and support grey-tinted, low-E double glazing, which allows for passive cooling and heating. “The comfort of living in a home where the frames and glazing have been carefully considered is something that too many people overlook,” says Carl. “It makes all the difference.”

The front door and windows have been developed using thermally broken brass profiles, which mirrors the brass tapware, door furniture, shelving and other focally integrated details throughout the home. Providing a point of difference in the Australian market, Thermeco is a world leader in thermally broken, energy efficient window and door systems. An exclusive partnership with Italian brand Secco Sistemi allows Thermeco to offer the highest quality thermally broken steel and brass window systems from Europe, further emphasising the company’s commitment to offering a product that maximises experience and style whilst minimising the environmental footprint.