Concrete classic: South Melbourne House

For architects used to working to a brief for clients, designing their own home comes as a welcome chance to try something different. For Melbourne architect Dominic Pandolfini, designing his own home in South Melbourne meant he could indulge his love for concrete and modern Italian design, while also trying several ideas he couldn’t include in other projects for various reasons. “It was very piecemeal with a bit of stuff going on everywhere,” says Dominic. “For better or worse, that was the case with my house, but that was the luxury of it being my own space.”

Concrete ties everything together, while features such as an oval-shaped window and a concrete blade wall bring to mind the concrete design of Italian architect Carlo Scarpa’s Brion Cemetery. On the floor, black concrete is mixed with white stone, mimicking Italian terrazzo. This effect was created by pumping black concrete with small white stones into the floor, while the larger stones were added by hand. “Literally my whole office and my kids were standing there while the concrete was pumping out and we were throwing in the white stones hand by hand,” says Dominic.

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A furry resident fits right in with the colours of the kitchen walls and floor.

Image: Rory Gardiner

The kitchen also features the same concrete floors and walls, plus white marble for the splashback and benchtops. The island is made of a black base in black concrete with white stones (the same as the flooring) and a white marble top. Overhead cupboards are in raw zinc, while the floor-to-ceiling pantry door and under-bench cupboards are a dark blue. Pendant lights in charcoal give a sense of continuity to the colour palette. “Kitchens need to be relatively hard-wearing,” says Dominic. “But they also get stained and chipped. You can’t worry about that; you have to be comfortable in the space.” There is also a small pantry to conceal mess, so that the kitchen is more presentable for guests.

The bathroom on the ground floor is off the living space, disguised by a large timber batten door. Inside, the bathroom is clad in a multi-coloured terrazzo tile, with curved bench, basin and mirror creating soft transitions. Upstairs, the ensuite also features rounded forms, with a curved wall that makes the most of a small space. Marine blue porcelain tiles and a white timber benchtop offer a uniform aesthetic, while the Flos Glo Ball mini wall light echoes the round shape of the basin and skylight. This house embraces concrete and stone without feeling hard or cold, while curved forms create a pleasing contrast to the straight modernist lines of the architecture.