Blue Ivy House

by mcmahon and nerlich

The Blue Ivy House in the inner city Melbourne suburb of Malvern is truly unique architectural project by the team of Kate McMahon and Rob Nerlich from mcmahon and nerlich.

The artistic provocation of the incredible Arabescato Vagli marble, and the resonance of the deep-blue cabinetry, informs a delightful dialectic between the collected artworks and the interlinked spaces of the house itself. Materials and objects are celebrated as artworks themselves, exploring the existential nature of timber, stone, leather and textiles.

Blue Ivy House is a genuine response to the design personality of the clients, eschewing a conservative approach for the semi-retired clients. Blue Ivy reflects their deep appreciation for art and literature and immediately responds to the artistic provocations of the material palette and an opening up and teasing out of a palimpsest of interlinked rooms, still bearing the marks of their cellular nature but interlinked from front door to courtyard.

The clients were initially looking for a relaxed setting to reflect their love of fine art, reading, extended family cooking and entertaining. Kate and Rob had to accommodate part of their incredibly large book collection and most of their artworks. The budget didn’t permit a radical transformation to the façades, yet the design team knew they had to overhaul the enclosed floor plan and improve the indoor-outdoor flow.

Each room on the ground floor was opened up at the corners and interlinks spatially with the next. A remnant of the hall is retained which creates an entry and gallery. The Kitchen and Dining space is organised around the generous island bench, complimented by the adjacent timber dining table. Open timber shelves increase the practicality of the high overhead cupboards and allow for !display of glassware and objet d’art.

The dining room wall is fully lined with the cantilevered timber shelves which work with the Mark Tuckey timber table. The marble is also used as shelving, with the cabinets dividing kitchen and lounge room fashioned into a full-height bookshelf, and a hybrid marble-timber bookshelves in the end of the kitchen island itself. Surfaces are rigorously detailed to accentuate planar simplicity.

Upstairs the material palette deepens, with hand-stitched leather bedhead layering autumnal tones against light timber veneer and the velvety grey stone textures of the bathrooms which play with and refract light from above.

The Blue Ivy House by mcmahon and nerlich is a refined architectural solution to the clients desire to downsize within a space that truly reflected their love of the finer things in life. Kate and Rob have designed a home that embraces the individual personality of the clients.

Awards and Commendations

Highly Commended – TIDA Architect – Designed Kitchen Awards 2018

To view more mcmahon and nerlich Inspired Architecture Archives head to their TLP Designer Profile.

Keep up to date with The Local Project’s latest interviews, project overviews, collections releases and more – view our TLP Articles & News.

Explore more design, interior & architecture archives in our TLP Archives Gallery.

The Blue Ivy House in the inner city Melbourne suburb of Malvern is truly unique architectural project by the team of Kate McMahon and Rob Nerlich from mcmahon and nerlich.

The artistic provocation of the incredible Arabescato Vagli marble, and the resonance of the deep-blue cabinetry, informs a delightful dialectic between the collected artworks and the interlinked spaces of the house itself. Materials and objects are celebrated as artworks themselves, exploring the existential nature of timber, stone, leather and textiles.

Blue Ivy House is a genuine response to the design personality of the clients, eschewing a conservative approach for the semi-retired clients. Blue Ivy reflects their deep appreciation for art and literature and immediately responds to the artistic provocations of the material palette and an opening up and teasing out of a palimpsest of interlinked rooms, still bearing the marks of their cellular nature but interlinked from front door to courtyard.

The clients were initially looking for a relaxed setting to reflect their love of fine art, reading, extended family cooking and entertaining. Kate and Rob had to accommodate part of their incredibly large book collection and most of their artworks. The budget didn’t permit a radical transformation to the façades, yet the design team knew they had to overhaul the enclosed floor plan and improve the indoor-outdoor flow.

Each room on the ground floor was opened up at the corners and interlinks spatially with the next. A remnant of the hall is retained which creates an entry and gallery. The Kitchen and Dining space is organised around the generous island bench, complimented by the adjacent timber dining table. Open timber shelves increase the practicality of the high overhead cupboards and allow for !display of glassware and objet d’art.

The dining room wall is fully lined with the cantilevered timber shelves which work with the Mark Tuckey timber table. The marble is also used as shelving, with the cabinets dividing kitchen and lounge room fashioned into a full-height bookshelf, and a hybrid marble-timber bookshelves in the end of the kitchen island itself. Surfaces are rigorously detailed to accentuate planar simplicity.

Upstairs the material palette deepens, with hand-stitched leather bedhead layering autumnal tones against light timber veneer and the velvety grey stone textures of the bathrooms which play with and refract light from above.

The Blue Ivy House by mcmahon and nerlich is a refined architectural solution to the clients desire to downsize within a space that truly reflected their love of the finer things in life. Kate and Rob have designed a home that embraces the individual personality of the clients.

Awards and Commendations

Highly Commended – TIDA Architect – Designed Kitchen Awards 2018

To view more mcmahon and nerlich Inspired Architecture Archives head to their TLP Designer Profile.

Keep up to date with The Local Project’s latest interviews, project overviews, collections releases and more – view our TLP Articles & News.

Explore more design, interior & architecture archives in our TLP Archives Gallery.