Robust and Textural – McCallum House by Minh Architects

Imagined as a forever home, McCallum House reinterprets the expected. By drawing on contextual cues and emphasising an enduring nature, Minh Architects proposes a home of matched robustness and continued lineage.

 Located just outside of Melbourne in Victoria’s Ocean Grove, there was a natural call for McCallum House to respond to its context and present as a fitting and sensitive addition. Similarly, at the core of the brief, there was the desire to have the home reside in place for generations to come, enduring as a congenial place for its owners and their extended families to convene time after time. Resultingly, the home combines masonry and timber elements as a symbol of strength and as a means to express texture. Timber, particularly in its proximity to the ocean, acts as an ideal marker of time, capturing patina and pattern from the climatic conditions and engagement with the architecture. Together with carpentry by Blair Hager Coastal Carpentry, Minh Architects crafts a flowing indoor-outdoor home that transitions the seasons, responding to the natural elements and increasing liveability.

While the rear sits in shadow for most of the day, key gestures at various points allow light to enter the home, illuminating and adding passive warmth across the seasons.

Sitting close to the coast, McCallum House both coexists as a contrast to the natural landscape while also expressing a unique connection through shared elements. While the front of the home faces north, the team used several formal mechanisms to carve out opportunities that engage with natural light and solar gain, ensuring the home rests expectedly on site and in its streetscape, not too dissimilar to its neighbours. While the rear sits in shadow for most of the day, key gestures at various points allow light to enter the home, illuminating and adding passive warmth across the seasons.

With the traditional backyard flipped to the front of the home, the expected journey is altered as each space engages with one another and is perceived through a broader lens. Nestled amongst its natural landscape, tonal influences are taken from the surrounding vegetation, in particular the tea tree species and their softness. Mixed with the more solid structural concrete elements, timber adds a relief while connecting to the natural, adding a textural element to the home.

Timber, particularly in its proximity to the ocean, acts as an ideal marker of time, capturing patina and pattern from the climatic conditions and engagement with the architecture.

Fusing both raw and polished, McCallum House combines the ideal elements of a family home. Minh Architects brings an effortless and layered richness to the project through considered detailing and bespoke elements, catering to the home’s owners.