Expressed in Stone – Franca House by Myers Ellyett and Wrightson Stewart

Home to marble and stone importers, Franca House sees the reinvention of a traditional Queenslander-style home through an elevation of enduring materiality. Myers Ellyett and Wrightson Stewart combine to carefully sculpt both the interior and exterior rooms of the home to flow consistently across thresholds.

As each home becomes an expression of personality and collected items, they tell stories of the backgrounds, passions and vocations of their owners. Set within Brisbane’s Camp Hill, Franca House welcomes the opportunity to engage in layering an appreciation for select materiality – stone – as an extension of the owners’ own importing business. Although the traditional Queenslander-style home sits light and elevated on site, allowing the free flowing of natural breezes to pass through the volumes, the challenge of bringing together the existing lightness with the weighted nature of stone needed a careful balancing. Combining architecture by Myers Ellyett and interior design by Wrightson Stewart, the resulting home fuses history, context and a personal appreciation of for a unique and enduring finish in proposing the connected resolve.

Drawing on the last ten years of importing stone and porcelain products, the owners wanted to combine their own knowledge and love of the materials into the newly crafted home.

Built by Diprose Builders, the renovation and extension work of Franca House see the realignment of the home and its planning to be increasingly more liveable. Ensuring a natural flow between inside and out was key, as was embedding a sense of longevity through the newly introduced elements. Allowing a flow of transition across traditional thresholds, the indoor naturally spills over into the outdoor, allowing the entirety of the site to become occupiable throughout the year. Drawing on the last 10 years of importing stone and porcelain products, the owners wanted to combine their own knowledge and love of the materials into the newly crafted home. The cooling and robust nature of the integrated surfaces ensures a durability and careful matching to the climatic conditions of the site, while providing the ideal platform for the family environment.

Within the constraints of the site, indoor and outdoor rooms are imagined as connected extensions of one another. A variety of animated and more muted stones and porcelain tiles are used throughout, both matching and responding to the function of the space while also bringing a level of personalisation in the process.  Large format silver travertine is used in the pool area, recreating a Roman bath feel, a Tuscan bosco marble is then used to encase the kitchen island, main bathroom and feature wall. Offering a counter to the harder elements, natural drapery softens the glazed façade and timber flooring adds a warmth and textural familiarity to the home.

A variety of animated and more muted stones and porcelain tiles are used throughout, both matching and responding to the function of the space while also bringing a level of personalisation in the process.

Infusing a togetherness, the newly revised Franca House feels connected both internally and to its site, seeing Myers Ellyett and Wrightson Stewart propose a time-wearing and elevated foundation for its family.