A Forever Home – Bentleigh House by MMAD Architecture

Bentleigh House is an original Californian bungalow architecturally reimagined as a family home, enriched by intimate connections to landscaped outdoor spaces. MMAD Architecture creates a true forever home that is a reflection of its inhabitants’ values.

This woven structure is more than the sum of its parts – it is somewhere for a family to live and grow and put down roots. MMAD Architecture transformed the uninspiring original frame into a series of flowing, unified spaces that facilitate and enhance family life. But while the inside and garden were entirely remade, the original façade of the bungalow was kept, in order to preserve historical longevity of heritage streetscapes. From the street, the original exterior conceals the full expression of what lies ahead.

The original section of the house had its timber flooring replaced with a solid blackbutt floorboard with a matte finish.

When entering the home, guests are greeted first with a double-height sitting room, with glimpses and suggestions of the house beyond. The volume of space enfolds you as a triangular window leads the eye up past elevated greenery to spy the first-floor viewing deck and study. Meanwhile, the window seat offers a direct line of sight out to the garden and the shock red spiral staircase and curved walls of the farther rooms beyond. In all, the house has four bedrooms, including master bedroom with ensuite bathroom and private balcony, two children’s rooms, and a guest bedroom with thoughtful design elements to help visiting travelers to feel at home.

But the central element is the garden. What was once a bare spot of grass without any trees is now a focal point for the house. Each room turns to view the garden in some way or other, the green space now cultivated with a private vegetable garden, new trees, and swimming pool. The house is designed so that each room remains connected to the rear garden, like a call and response that keeps the two in dialogue through open-plan rooms and thoughtfully placed windows. The internal staircase also draws the garden close, with a curved wall that flows to give way between inside and outside.

The guest bedroom wardrobe has been designed in the style of a hotel, allowing guests to place their luggage on a bench while also hang clothing up.

Moving effortlessly from room to room, even the viewing deck is connected back down to the garden with an external spiral staircase, in a moment of cyclical continuity. It is the most memorable design feature of the house, a shock of flame red that announces itself in stark contrast with its surroundings. The perforated metal spiral staircase was made by Enzie Stairs, and is a bright, vibrant red because, of course it is. The design decision came in a dialogue with the client, originating as a 3D render colour, it soon became the apposite choice. Its bold appearance is another way this house both contains and expresses the personality of its inhabitants.

The connections between internal spaces and between indoors and outdoors are driven by how the family wanted to live within their home. The main priority was to create distinct spaces for work and life to exist separately but concurrently. A home office on the first floor is cornered off for privacy, but with open views to the upper deck and house beyond. The ground floor living spaces exist in clearly demarked segments, but with an openness that allows life to flow seamlessly from room to room. The garden and common areas are fluid, relating harmoniously with each other. This is intended to be a forever home, a place for the family to create memories as they grow.

The wall curves around the internal spiral staircase, enfolding you in greenery as you climb the stairs.

This sense of home is carried through to the materials also, in a combination of contrasting tones. From the polished concrete garden patio to internal exposed honed blocks and blackbutt floorboards, the sturdy industrial elements are softened by warm woodgrains, inclusive sightlines and charming design elements. The materials on both sides of this continuum work to communicate the same message. The heavy and sturdy materials convey safety and protection, like the exposed block walls of GB Honed porcelain by Austral Masonry, while the natural elements of timber are warm and nurturing. And all come together to create a space for family life, the very goal of Bentleigh house.

Environmental sustainability is important to the family, and construction decisions have been made to reflect their beliefs. MMAD has utilised vegan products and principals where possible. For instance, the carpet selections in bedrooms were originally wool, but instead are now Triextra carpets – a polymer created using corn sugar which produces more than 60% less in greenhouse gas emissions in its production. In this way, the family not only inhabits the home but their values do as well.

With playful structural moments in the brickwork that pay homage to the owners’ British heritage, the injection of personality in the form of the red staircase, and the considered interplay of materials, Bentleigh House is informed at every turn by the character and values of its owners. And with balanced connections between spaces both internal and external, it is a forever home to the core, designed to support and facilitate all aspects of the family’s life together over years to come.