A Generous Heart – Gloss House by Studio Doherty and Enth Degree Architects

As a love letter to Palm Springs and midcentury style, Gloss House features experimental openness and an ethos that sees entertaining become a central function of the home. Studio Doherty and Enth Degree Architects carefully craft the residence to be a personal expression of its owners that playfully engages with colour.

Spread over two levels, Gloss House reinterprets the traditional family home as a destination of its own. Despite the clients owning a terrazzo company, the material was used in moderation with other elements, allowing the design team to direct the best use of elements to enliven the spaces. As a newly designed and built home, the entire floor plan and its engagement with the site could be crafted from the beginning to suit the desired living experience. Designed to be open and welcoming, the home and its resulting spaces needed to accommodate entertainment as a core function. With interior design by Studio Doherty and architecture by Enth Degree Architects, the team cohesively blends the expectations of a residential yet social environment.

The sunken lounge conversation pit, the openness between the landscape and the interior, and the flow of movement between inside and out, led the residence to feel influenced by yet not derivative to its muses.

Enamoured both by the aesthetic charm and character of Palm Springs, the owners wanted to integrate references to the specific aesthetic whilst still ensuring the home was expressive of them. The sunken lounge conversation pit, the openness between the landscape and the interior, and the flow of movement between inside and out, led the residence to feel influenced by yet not derivative to its muses. The timber lined ceiling in the main living area softens and adds warmth to the space, whilst the directional lines of the panels help reinforce the generous size of the living area and its sense of continuity across the floor.

Adding another layer of character is the integration of contrasting and vibrant colours. Whilst the kitchen is sculptural and playful in its arrangement, its grey tones ensure the overall silhouette is the focus, creating a hierarchy with the insertion of more saturated elements. Connecting the levels is the spiral steel blue staircase, which is open to allow audible connections across the levels and maintain a sense of connection throughout. Encouraging the pieces within the spaces to act as sculptures, the overall openness and flowing nature of the volumes creates the ideal environment for socialising. Among the openness, more intimate moments are created through furniture arrangements and subtleties in level changes.

Encouraging the pieces within the spaces to act as sculptures, the overall openness and flowing nature of the volumes creates the ideal environment for socialising.

Heightened through a refined approach to detailing, Gloss house combines a connection to the past with a firm anchoring in the present. Studio Doherty and Enth Degree Architects have created a characterful and playful form tailored to its owners.