Ballarat, Victoria
The Burnbank Project
In one of Ballarat’s most cherished enclaves, just a stone’s throw from the tranquil shores of Lake Wendouree, sits a home that redefines contemporary luxury living.
Completed in 2024
in partnership with TR Design
The Approach: A Prelude of Texture and Form
Approaching the house, the narrative begins to unfold from the streetscape. The façade is a masterclass in balancing bold, striking geometry with a warm, layered, and profoundly tactile material palette. It does not shout for attention; rather, it anchors itself with a quiet, undeniable confidence. The heavy, grounding presence of charcoal‑toned brickwork meets the sharp, contemporary lines of crisp black‑framed glazing. This potentially austere combination is immediately softened by strategic accents of natural timber, which introduce an organic warmth and hint at the biophilic principles woven throughout the property.
As you move beyond the property line, a sweeping pathway guides your journey. It is deliberately paced, forcing a gentle deceleration as you transition from the rush of the outside world to the tranquillity of the home. This pathway leads you under a generous, gravity-defying cantilevered canopy. This architectural feature is both a shield and an invitation, an elegant prelude to what lies within, offering shelter while framing the custom timber entry door.
The Threshold: Designing for Sensory Calm
Stepping across the threshold, the immediate sensation is one of profound calm. The 322 square meters of thoughtfully zoned living space have been designed with a deep understanding of wellbeing. The entryway does not overwhelm, instead, it offers a moment of spatial decompression. The acoustics are gently softened by the materiality of the walls and flooring, dampening the harsh echoes typically found in modern homes. The lighting here is not direct or aggressive but ambient and diffuse, drawing the eye toward the sightlines that stretch straight through the heart of the house, offering immediate glimpses of the greenery outside.
Drifting down the wide, gallery-like hallway, the zoning of the home becomes apparent. Five generously proportioned bedrooms and four luxe bathrooms are distributed with an intuitive flow, ensuring that public and private spaces remain distinctly separate, yet cohesively linked. Tucked thoughtfully along this circulation path is a dedicated study nook. Framed by a large window that overlooks a carefully curated pocket garden, this space transforms the act of working into a retreat. The natural greenery outside acts as a living, breathing piece of art, boosting focus and providing a visual rest for tired eyes. Every single day feels like a retreat, firmly rooted in nature.
The Heart: A Pavilion of Light and Life
Moving back through the home, the hallway expands dramatically, revealing the true heart of the house: an expansive, open‑plan living, dining, and kitchen pavilion. This is where the brief's demand for natural lighting reaches its crescendo. The architecture here steps back to allow the environment to take centre stage, framed by spectacular full‑height sliding doors that form the entire rear boundary of the room.
The kitchen is a testament to progressive, future-focused design. Seamlessly integrated cabinetry conceals state-of-the-art, high-efficiency, all-electric appliances, reflecting a commitment to sustainable living without compromising on luxury or aesthetic purity. A monolithic island bench clad in natural stone serves as the anchor point of the pavilion, a place for morning coffee, evening homework, or laying out a feast for friends. The dining and living areas flow effortlessly from this central hub, unified by warm timber flooring that reflects the sunlight pouring in from the surrounding glass.
The Blur: Erasing the Boundaries
The true magic of this pavilion is its kinetic nature. On long summer days, the full-height sliding doors fold away completely, vanishing into concealed wall cavities. In an instant, the boundary between inside and out ceases to exist. The home breathes out, expanding its footprint to incorporate the elements. You can stand in the kitchen and feel the gentle summer breeze, or sit in the living room and feel as though you are resting in the garden. This is the seamless connection the original brief demanded, realized in its most absolute form.
Stepping through the vanished threshold, the outdoor area is an exercise in restrained luxury. Imagine lazy afternoons spent lounging by the edge of the in‑ground, heated pool, the water sparkling like a sapphire against the surrounding paving. The pool is designed not just for use, but as an aesthetic anchor, its surface reflecting the shifting sky and the dramatic lines of the roofline above.
Adjacent to the water, a meticulously detailed BBQ area invites spontaneous gatherings. Covered by a striking pergola that provides dappled shade, this outdoor kitchen is fully equipped for entertaining under the open sky. Surrounding this entire outdoor precinct is a tapestry of lush, low‑maintenance planting. This greenery is not merely decorative; it is a structural element of the design, softening the hardscapes, providing privacy, and bringing the garden to life without ever stealing the show from the architecture. It is a perfect biophilic balance of built form and natural growth.
The Retreat: The Pool-House
Tucked discreetly beside the pool, almost hidden amidst the landscaping, lies a clever addition: the pool‑house retreat. Designed with the same architectural language and material palette as the main residence, this secondary structure is a masterstroke of versatility. It features its own fully equipped kitchenette, a comfortable living area, a spacious bedroom, and a private, beautifully appointed bathroom.
This space is a chameleon, adapting to the ever-changing needs of its inhabitants. It is the perfect, private sanctuary for out‑of‑town guests, offering them their own slice of the property. It serves as an ultimate teenage hideaway, or perhaps a secluded, light-filled private studio for creative pursuits. More than just an ancillary building, the pool-house is an invitation to linger, to escape the main hub of family activity, and to experience the property from a completely different vantage point. Looking back across the water toward the glowing pavilion of the main house at dusk, one truly understands the scale and beauty of the entire design