Yarravillia by Brave New Eco
Designing a dream home for a family of four in Yarraville, Brave New Eco’s Yarravillia project is a testament to modernist design while being wheelchair friendly throughout.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson | Photography: Emma Byrnes
‘The outcome is a deeply optimistic, nostalgic, and playful environment, speaking volumes of the character, tenacity and good taste of the people that inhabit it,’ says Megan Norgate. Photo: Emma Byrnes
Paprika coloured details in the living space. Photo: Emma Byrnes
When the project first unfolded in 2015, Yarravillia project’s scope was initially a wheelchair friendly bathroom redesign. However, after the clients loved what Brave New Eco proposed, they launched into a full-scale renovation.
What followed was a sensitive reflection on the familiar post-war cream brick 1950’s Bungalow in Melbourne, tucked down the end of a cul-de-sac that snaked around Cruickshank Park in Yarraville. With extensive park views, the clients were designing their dream home.
Founding Director and Principal Megan Norgate shares client Claire’s brief: ‘to create a beautiful, sustainable, thoughtful, wheelchair-friendly family home that meets many people’s different needs. To restore and protect all of the original fittings where possible and to reuse what can be reimagined.’
‘With two young sons under 10, they needed a robust and uber-functional space,’ says Megan. ‘Owen, their eldest son, uses a wheelchair for mobility, so the house was designed for ease of movement and to facilitate various daily activities.’
Collaborating with Greensolar Designs, Yarravillia project became a sustainable, passive-function double-storey home with a new extension for the open plan kitchen, dining, and sitting room opening to the north and east. Upstairs contains a parent’s retreat with a bedroom, study and ensuite looking over the surrounding treetops.
Curves feature throughout the home as a nod to its post-war 1950 origins. Maximised for a vibrant yet diffused colour palette, a mix of hues —paprika, olive greens, dusky blues, and pops of red and pink— feature complementarily.
The custom-designed, olive-green cabinetry and mossy green tiled splashback in the kitchen. Photo: Emma Byrnes
Colourful, retro details in the kitchen. Photo: Emma Byrnes
‘This home needs to work a bit harder than most, providing a space for entertaining, play, places to store specialist equipment, to work from home, foster creative projects and to support the people that provide daily care for Owen,’ says Megan Norgate. Photo: Emma Byrnes
“The outcome is a deeply optimistic, nostalgic, and playful environment, speaking volumes of the character, tenacity and good taste of the people that inhabit it.”
‘Claire and Hayden’s collection of vintage kitsch, mid-century, and industrial objects had been stored for years, waiting for their forever house,’ says Megan Norgate. Photo: Emma Byrnes
‘Claire, who worked for many years in fashion, has a keen eye for colour and form, and Hayden had amassed a vast collection of industrial relics and objects in a nearby junkyard,’ says Megan. ‘The eclectic colour scheme was intuitively drawn from both the existing home’s materials and the owner’s belongings.’
The use of materiality continues the tonal palette with its own texture and form — herringbone-patterned terracotta underfoot and warm umber toned kit kat tiles on the fireplace. ‘The terracotta tiles in tones of earthy brown were handmade in New Zealand and provide a warm surface underfoot as they absorb the winter sun,’ says Megan.
In the kitchen, custom-designed olive-green cabinetry features mossy green tiled splashback and rounded blackbutt timber shelves. Thanks to built-in features, the kitchen effortlessly flows into a breakfast bar and desk for Owen before connecting to the spacious open plan dining with an impressive set of windows.
‘The deco style curved front patio corner was replicated in a curved series of windows into which an oval dining table fits snugly,’ says Megan. ‘Above it, Pop and Scott’s “Starburst Dreamweaver” pendant never looked so at home.’
In the bathroom that started it all, Brave New Eco were inspired by the 1960s pool, employing matt blue mosaic tiles and raw brass tapware. The designers ensured ease of use for Owen and his carers through a curved edged vanity, with the semi-recessed basin accessible from all sides.
‘Our son can transfer easily from his bedroom out of his wheelchair through all the widened doorways and wheel straight into his shower,’ says Claire. ‘Plus, the bathroom also works as a great family bathroom without a ‘medical’ or ‘disability’ flavour that often accompanies these kinds of bathrooms.’
This philosophy continues throughout the entire Yarravillia project for a well-loved modern home that will stand the test of time while also revealing that design isn’t limited by accessibility, but rather enhanced by it.
The entrance of Yarravillia project with its rich timber details. Photo: Emma Byrnes
‘The moment you step into the front entrance, the home states its intention not to be bland with a joyful paprika coloured entranceway,’ says Megan Norgate. Photo: Emma Byrnes
“Overlooking the lofty gum trees of the park and opening onto a suntrap crazy-paved patio at the front, the home embodied the modernist design ideals they are so fond of.”
In the bathroom Brave New Eco were inspired by the 1960s pool, employing matt blue mosaic tiles and raw brass tapware. Photo: Emma Byrnes
Playfulness and colour extends to the laundry space. Photo: Emma Byrnes
Clever use of space and functionality in the laundry. Photo: Emma Byrnes