A Calming Exhale – Rockley Residence by Workroom
As a warm and embracing detachment from the outside world, Rockley Residence is conceived as a haven of enduring relevance and familiarity for its family. Workroom proposes a home that celebrates proportion and scale, allowing its residents to breathe from within.
Nestled into the established surrounds of South Yarra, Rockley Residence echoes a similar cool calm as a contemporary home whilst also offering a connection to the past. Drawing on classical proportions, the structure engages with the street as both a place of curiosity and concealed privacy for its owners, offering glimpses of what may lie beyond the façade yet shielding the daily happenings from view. The masonry clad home sits anchored to its site, firming its place for the chapters to come. Born from a place of simplified gestures, Workroom proposes a home of both undeniable warmth and unique staying power, destined to remain pertinent well beyond its years.
Rockley Residence sits immersed within landscape designed by Nathan Burkett Landscape Architecture and brings a respectful approach to the surrounding heritage homes. By references a similar scale and aligning openings with neighbouring properties, the home feels intentional and as a modern evolution of what once was. This sense of intrigue externally ensures the residence feels both private and reclusive, creating an embedded warmth throughout and an ideal place to recharge and disconnect.
Following on from core principles of the home, the material selections are also kept contained with little variations. The minimal use of materials helps bind the home together across its various levels whilst grounding it to site. Finishes that can intentionally patina over time are combined with sleek and contemporary elements, allowing the home to capture moments of time through touch. Polished plaster is used throughout, softening the vertical surfaces and rounding the edges of the internal stair. Openings are then carved into the outer shell to bring natural light deep into the internal spaces and illuminate the home from within.
Through a dedication to the refined, Rockley Residence emerges as a forever home for its family. In avoiding fleeting styles and remaining true to core quality materials, Workroom ensures the resulting home embodies its own interpretation of permanence.
