Balanced and Calm – The Benson by MHNDU and Hecker Guthrie

Embracing its harbourside locale, The Benson brings together the natural and the built and encourages an engagement with light, expressed through materiality and space. MHNDU and Hecker Guthrie combine a muted and open approach together with refined details to propose a balanced life.

Nestled into the enviable Rose Bay, The Benson is idyllically located within reach of both the harbour and inner Sydney, while also being amongst the tightly woven inner urban fabric of the area. Taking inspiration from its surrounds, the development is conceived on an approach of lightness, both in its engagement with the natural and in the expression of its comprising parts. Embracing its proximity and access to key landscaped areas, each residence also embraces its own private gardens, offering privacy while also articulating the same indoor/outdoor lifestyle that the city is known for. MHNDU partners with Hecker Guthrie to create unique residences that create the ideal setting for contemporary living, with ample flexibility for the individualisation of each by its owners.

Embracing its proximity and access to key landscaped areas, each residence also embraces its own private gardens, offering privacy while also articulating the same indoor/outdoor lifestyle that the city is known for.

Built by Lords Group and developed by Fortis, landscape by Wyer & Co ties the spaces to the natural environment, with each residence given its own dedicated outdoor terrace space. Embodying a sense of calm, The Benson is spread over three levels and is immersed in lush greenery, allowing an ease of flow, while also matching the area in density and the known grand homes of the Eastern suburbs in scale. There is a deliberate European influence on both the planning and the approach to materiality, imagined heightening the residential experience and embodying a modern luxury. The inclusion of quality crafted details and finishes further reinforces the intended longevity of the residences, allowing the materials to age and patina gracefully over time.

A muted and warm palette douses each of the spaces, creating calming enclaves for residents to retreat to. Together with the interaction of natural light throughout the day, the generous interiors react to their environment, allowing an effortless flow beyond its bounding walls. Both the architectural and interiors approach references the classical, with a known rhythm and repetition of openings and form. The sense of balance is personified from the streetscape, through to the internal spaces, where a shared expression of honest and raw materiality is used throughout. Deep reveals to outdoor terraces offer a sense of privacy and create the feeling of being within a larger single home, instead of interwoven apartments.

A muted and warm palette douses each of the spaces, creating calming enclaves for residents to retreat to.

The Benson expresses texture and light to optimise its location, while allowing an ease of engagement with the natural. MHNDU and Hecker Guthrie have beautifully combined the hand crafted with refined elements inside a generous shell, proposing a series of tranquil and composed residences.

The Benson expresses texture and light to optimise its location, while allowing an ease of engagement with the natural.