This Bellevue Hill project was a nine-year labour of love. The initial client sold the property to the present owners who decided to continue the build with the same project team and a modified brief.

The project saw extensive remodelling of the existing 70s modernist house by Gergely and Pinter Architects. Hidden from the street frontage, access to the battle-axe block is via a landscaped avenue acting as a prelude to the design. The site enjoys a north-westerly prospect towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which has served as a driver for internal programming.

Guided by the architectural brief, the design sought to blur edges, provide delicate detailing invoking a “P&O Cruise” style, and create a spatial flow between interior and exterior by using simple and sophisticated geometries with minimal detailing. The home incorporates five-bedroom suites, each with a bathroom and walk-in robe, a self-contained studio, an office, and vast living spaces.

The primary living environment opens to the north via a central double volume atrium lit by upper-level skylights. The primary terrace links the open plan living environment with a freeform concrete and steel cabana, a large pool with a 17m glass-bottomed pond feature, and a Peter Fudge designed garden, around a century old Norfolk Island Pine tree.

Using the Harbour Bridge as an aesthetic reference, the home’s exterior is balanced between the heavy and light elements of the Micaceous Iron Oxide steelwork and the quiet strength of an off-form concrete sub-frame.