Crafted with Precision – Stumpy Gully Road by markowitzdesign and Stavrias Architecture

As a deliberate defiance of the typical new homes being built in the Mornington Peninsula at present, Stumpy Gully Road responds sensitively to context and orientation, offering a material expression that connects to the surrounding landscape. Stumpy Gully Road sees markowitzdesign, Stavrias Architecture and Bakka Constructions combine forces to execute heightened detailing and an intimate expression of contemporary craft.

The home is a labour of love for its owner and its creators, with a considered and responsive design that has been carefully brought to life through the attentive and skilled hands of its builder, Ross Bakker of Bakka Constructions. Designed in a collaboration between markowitzdesign and George Stavrias of Stavrias Architcture, the single-level home is a statement in what is enough and what is appropriate. In the abundance of inspiration from the site, it was inevitable that timber and warm tones would play a main role in the overall feel, while addressing and responding to the natural elements helped direct the planning. The result is a deliberately modest yet beautifully detailed home that sits humbly and elegantly in its context.

With the home entered from the centre, the landscape is experienced as part of the journey into the building, emphasising the importance of the natural elements in the impression the home creates.

With the increased popularity of the Mornington Peninsula area has come a demand for quick and easily replicable housing, which is therefore absent of any specificity or connection to place. Stumpy Gully Road, deliberately aims for the opposite. Envisioned to allow the evolving functionality needed for a family over time, the planning is open to change, allowing zoning and separation as needed. Following the length of the site creates a distinctive linear form that allows natural northern light to enter each of the rooms instead of a select few. As such, the orientation captures a conscientious spirit – to work with the site, not against it. In addition, by aligning the form lengthways, a linear garden space opportunity was created, which has been populated by an equally sensitive landscape design response from Jo Ferguson.

With the home entered from the centre, the landscape is experienced as part of the journey into the building, emphasising the importance of the natural elements in the impression the home creates. Combining midcentury principles of long spans and an absence of pitched or gabled roof forms, the silhouette of the home sits low to the site, with little impact to the established tree canopies and vegetation that surround. The lightness of the form reflects the earlier typology of timber wrapped homes along the coast – many of which were made from abandoned ships along the shore – yet has been reinterpreted in a modern and responsive way.

Combining midcentury principles of long spans and an absence of pitched or gabled roof forms, the silhouette of the home sits low to the site, with little impact to the established tree canopies and vegetation that surround.

With every piece that comprises the home having been carefully considered, Stumpy Gully Road connects all those that made and live within the spaces to the site itself. Combining their fine furniture-making practice with their architectural, interior design and construction contributions, markowitzdesign, Stavrias Architecture and Bakker Constructions ensure a legacy that will endure for many years to come.