Merricks Beach House functions as a holiday home and is available to rent on a short-term basis, so Kennedy Nolan Architects was asked to create a flexible building with a structure durable enough to accommodate regularly changing occupants.

The single-storey house is arranged over three staggered levels that respond to the natural slope of the site. Rooms are laid out on a U-shaped plan, creating a large courtyard on the western side of the building.

Half of the house is given over to social spaces, on the assumption that temporary residents spend more time entertaining and are likely to have children around. To the south, a kitchen leads out to a dedicated barbecue deck, while a sunken living room opens out to the courtyard and a "bunk room" can be used as a second lounge.

Two bedrooms are lined up along the eastern side of the building and sit beside a single bathroom. There's no need for much storage, so each room contains just the basic furnishings.

The recycled clay bricks were used to construct the lowest sections of the house's walls and are visible both inside and outside the building. In most places they are painted white, but the architects left two unfinished circles to reveal the original colour.

Timber wraps over the tops and corners of the walls, while windows are slotted into gaps between the two different materials.

Merricks Beach House is one of several new houses in Melbourne featured on Dezeen recently. Others include a residence clad in slabs of travertine and a house with the silhouette of three little buildings. See more houses in Australia.

Photography is by Derek Swalwell.

Read on for more information from Kennedy Nolan Architects:

Merricks Beach House

This small house at Merricks Beach has been designed as a weekender that is available for short term rental. It needed to be an economical build and tough enough for the knocks of a rental market. It is two blocks from the beach. It has no views and had no existing trees on the site.

There are the usual line-up of rooms required, and in this instance it is a modest list; but what becomes a more interesting conversation is how you live differently in the weekender.

» No one needs to 'own' a bedroom
» No one needs to shower and leave quickly in the morning
» What you need to store is completely different
» You arrive and unpack; you leave & pack
» You spend more time with others; having guests stay over is common
» There always seems to be more children than adults!
» It is a place to enjoy each other

A courtyard typology ensures maximum privacy and access to northern winter sun, yet in this straightforward floor plan a number of 'in-between' spaces have been considered.

The bunk room which is located on the north edge of the internal courtyard has no doors and the king single bunks sit within their own alcove. This spacefeels dark and private and becomes a second living room when the house swells with people. Within this space thereare different places to be. There is no need for walls or doors. Light forms the threshold.

The coastal weekender is not just a summer dream. In winter the hearth is central to this house. Located between the kitchen and living room, a slow combustion fireplace defines another 'in-between' space. There is time here in the colder months to pull up a chair, chat or read. In summer this space dissolves into the open corner of the central deck.

A slight fall across the site allows for the house to have 3 levels. The living pit sits below the central timber deck. It is a soft floor that allows you to be low and look out over the skillion roof to the trees in the surrounding area. The pit edge becomes another of these in-between places. It is a place to sit and wide enough for a futon for an afternoon nap in the winter sun. The edge curves to become the hearth for the fire, finishing in a ledge for the television.

The materials of the build are a big part of what this house is about. It is not a precise build. It feels raw and tough. A language of masonry, concrete and timber was developed. The white painted brickwork to both interior and exterior walls is never punctured by windows. They are always walls, solid and straightforward. There are two moments where a circle has been left, telling the story of the recycled red bricks that the house is made from. The structural concrete slab, rough-sawn timber cladding and concrete block screen wall have been expressed with similar simplicity.

Location: Merricks Beach, Melbourne, Australia
Architects: Kennedy Nolan Architects
Project type: New house
Completion Date: May 2012
Site area: 850sqm
Floor area: 155sqm
Project Team: Rachel Nolan, Patrick Kennedy, Michael Macleod

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Profile House is located within the industrial district of Brunswick East, so BLOXAS designed a new facade that would reference the surrounding brick and corrugated iron warehouses, as well as the timber-clad exterior of the original building.

The front entrance to the house remains in its previous location on the northern elevation, while the new rough-sawn ash facade grows out of a boundary fence on the western perimeter and stretches out along the length of the site.

The extension doubles the size of the single-storey house. The architects retained three front rooms and one small bathroom, then increased the size of the kitchen and dining room and added a new children's playroom, living room and en suite bedroom beyond.

The zigzagging profile of the building gives angled ceilings to each of the new spaces and brings daylight in through high-level windows and rooflights.

"The defining character of each internal space is the high undulating ceilings," says BLOXAS director Anthony Clarke. "These, assisted by a central wharf-decking courtyard and smaller lightwell to the west, allow natural light to penetrate throughout the entire plan."

The long narrow lightwell sits behind the western elevation, while the split-level courtyard is tucked into a recess on the east side of the building so that both the dining room and living room can open out to it.

Most of the new rooms feature bamboo flooring, apart from the living room that has a polished concrete ground surface.

Clarke established BLOXAS, short for Black Line One X Architecture Studio, in 2009 and the studio is based in Fitzroy North, Victoria. See more Australian architecture on Dezeen.

Photography is by Peter Bennetts.

Here's a project description from BLOXAS:

Profile House

The Profile House offers an evocative tribute to the defined industrial typology of Brunswick East, in Melbourne's inner north. Simple planning creates clean, elegant and sculptural internal living spaces.

Seeking an addition to their typically dark Californian Bungalow, the clients emphasised the sustainable performance of their future home. Accordingly, they described a space with a feeling of openness, lightness, and visual continuity, connecting their home and landscape.

These values were reinforced by their professions, one specialising in environmental site characterisation and remediation, and the other practicing alternative medicine.

Located in a semi-industrial zone, the site offers visual proximity to the area's brick and corrugated iron warehouses. Some warehouses and factories are still operational, whilst many lie dormant and in disrepair, ripe for either their imminent demise or redevelopment into multi-storey apartment blocks.

A strong internal vertical profile extrudes to form the western elevation. Clad with rough-sawn overlapping Victorian Ash timber, this distinct contour continues along the western boundary as the defining architectural expression of the Profile House, whilst delivering on the brief of a secure building.

The defining character of each internal space is the high undulating ceilings, these, assisted by a central wharf-decking courtyard and smaller light-well to the west, allow natural light to penetrate throughout the entire plan.

In addition to the retention of three front rooms and central bathroom, the plan now features a re-worked kitchen and dining area, an informal children's area, and new living space. A new main bedroom, ensuite and private garden are also incorporated. The overall design strengthens family engagement and visual communication, reinforcing the relationships between space and activity.

In addition to dependable design strategies such as careful plan orientation and cross ventilation, solar hot water and water harvesting systems were also included, as well as the use of north facing thermal mass in the main living space. Natural material choices and finishes of low embodied energy including: un-seasoned, un-milled Victorian ash timber, and bamboo flooring through-out the addition adhered to the client's environmental stipulations.

A refreshing change from housing that simply maximises developer returns, neighbours have responded appreciatively to the low scale design, whilst maintaining the area's built integrity. In a subtle move the project further softens the corner, with the use of the timber in the boundary wall, juxtaposing against the materials of the factories.

This compact, economical and highly livable outcome was a result of inclusive dialogue between all consultants, the builder, architect and in particular the client.

Architect: Black Line One X Architecture Studio.
Location: Brunswick East, Melbourne, Australia.
Builder: Genjusho
Project year: 2012
Areas: Site = 371sq.m, Existing house area = 87sq.m, Additional area = 83sq.m
Furniture: 'Earl Pinto' and Ross Gardam

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"The house builds on some of the ideas of 57 Tivoli Road," architect Daniel Rees told Dezeen, comparing the project to a basalt-clad house the studio completed in 2010. "Here, the facade is clad in beautiful banded silver travertine marble."

b.e. Architecture sourced stone from opposite sides of the same quarry to create the two-tone effect, then cut the material into ten different slab sizes to give a varied pattern.

The striped travertine clads the top floor of the two-storey Cassell Street House, while the lower floor features a mixture of concrete and glass walls. The glazed areas surround a living room on one side and a study on the other, allowing both rooms to open out to separate gardens.

The architects were keen to make the building look aged, so they added weathered timber window shutters and entrance gates to help it fit in with its Edwardian neighbours.

"The house was designed to be sympathetic with the period but not mimetic of any particular style, whilst remaining unapologetically contemporary," they explain.

Four bedrooms are located on the upper floor, alongside a series of en suite bathrooms. There are also three balconies on this floor, which sit within deep recesses in the stone facade.

A car park occupies the basement and can be accessed by a ramp tucked around the side of the building.

Melbourne-based b.e. Architecture was founded in 1997 by Jonathon Boucher and Broderick Ely. As well as 57 Tivoli Road, the studio also designed Meakins Road, a house surrounded by a steel and timber grid. See more by b.e. Architecture.

Other residences completed in Australia recently include a house with a facade inspired by tree branches. See more houses in Australia.

Photography is by Peter Clarke.

Here's some more information from b.e. Architecture:

Cassell Street house is a boutique new home built on a corner block in South Yarra, built in place of an attached Edwardian row house and set amongst homes of a similar vintage. The house was designed to be sympathetic with the period but not mimetic of any particular style, whilst remaining unapologetically contemporary.

The limited material palate of natural and aged materials such as travertine, rusticated timber, concrete and steel cast over a strong rectilinear form work to give the building the quality of looking older than it is – to look as though in an another world it could well have been standing in its place unchanged since the 1930s.

Being sited on a corner block, the first floor form in particular is highly visible from the street with all sides visible to the passer by. A bespoke material treatment was thus considered an appropriate urban gesture. The complex travertine facade is made up of 10 different sized slabs of stone laid in bands sourced from opposite sides of the same quarry producing two distinct colours. The banding quality of the stone facade is referential of Byzantine buildings in a reference to the owner's heritage.

The deep apertures formed in the travertine walls of the first floor facade make the building read as a singular and massive stone edifice and in doing so shade and shelter the western windows as well as protecting the occupant from the nearby major road.

By contrast, downstairs is characterised by expansive glazing, opening the living areas to the secluded garden space which surrounds the building.

A visitor enters from the street into the heart of the building adjacent a curving staircase rising three floors from basement garage to the upstairs bedrooms. The curving staircase contrasts with the rectilinear form of the exterior and is used as a separation device to define the ground floor living areas into two distinct zones: The day/summer areas facing north and overlooking a pool and outdoor eating area; the night/winter areas facing south and east into the more sheltered back yard.

Architects: b.e architecture
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Construction Team: Bayside Construct
Design Team: Andrew Piva, Broderick Ely, Jon Boucher, Kris Keen

Area: 500 sqm
Year: 2012

Above: ground floor plan

Above: first floor plan

Above: basement floor plan

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by b.e. Architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

News: a 388-metre-high hotel and apartment building, which will be the tallest building in the southern hemisphere when completed, has been approved by planners in Melbourne, Australia.

The government of Victoria last week gave the go-ahead for Australia 108, designed by local architects Fender Katsaladis for a location in the Southbank area just a few streets away from another of its skyscrapers, the 297-metre-high Eureka Tower.

As well as 108 floors of apartments, the building will contain a luxury hotel and several restaurants and bars on its upper floors, plus a food market and cafe near ground level.

Melbourne's city council had originally opposed the project, fearing the 108-storey building would cast a shadow over the Shrine of Remembrance war memorial, but planning minister Matthew Guy said the project had now received endorsement from the memorial's trustees and met the city's planning conditions.

The building is due to be completed in 2018, but may not retain its title as the southern hemisphere's tallest for long, because an even taller skyscraper is set to complete in South Africa in the same year – the 447-metre-high Centurion-Symbio City tower in Tshwane.

The ten tallest skyscrapers due for completion in 2013 include a 383-metre-high tower in north-east China and an Abu Dhabi complex by Foster + Partners – see all skyscrapers.

Images are by Australia 108.

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Spanish lighting designers Luzinterruptus scattered 10,000 glowing books across the ground at Federation Square in Melbourne this summer for a lighting festival dedicated to reading.

Entitled Literature Versus Traffic, the installation was designed to resemble a river that winds along the pavements and roads of the busy public square.

The designers sourced the discarded books from local libraries and placed LED lights behind the pages of each one to illuminate the printed words.

Over the course of the month they were also able to gradually move the books into different configurations.

On the final day visitors were invited to choose a few to take home, while others were donated to passing drivers through open car windows.

"The objective was to create a symbolic gesture in which literature took control of the streets and became the conquerer of the public space," explained one the anonymous artists.

The installation remained in place throughout June for the Light in Winter lighting festival. Reading was the theme, so the organisers had asked Luzinterruptus to create a scaled-up version of a similar installation they had completed in New York.

Other temporary lighting projects by Luzinterruptus include skips filled with glowing carrier bags and illuminated nipples stuck to statues.

See all our stories about Luzinterruptus »

See more installations on Dezeen »

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