My name is Adam Kane from Adam Kane Architects. I'm the architect at the Barwon Heads House.
Barwon Heads is a coastal town in regional Victoria, located about an hour and a half
south, south-west of Melbourne. Initially located on the site there was an old weatherboard home
from 100 or so years ago. The main brief from the client was to request a
gable formed, modern extension, while still being sympathetic to the existing home. Walking through
the existing house, we've retained period features and detailing and as one passes through,
they're really not expecting the extension. There's an element of constraint as one catches
glimpses from the old house to the new, through a dark constrained walkway, black mottled walls,
ceiling, hidden rooms, pantry, laundry, drying room, there is a rumpus. It creates a sense of
compression as one walks through it and as one walks closer towards the
light, an open plan six and a half metre high ceiling slowly begins to reveal itself.
North facing windows with four and a half meter height dappled sheer curtains
catch glimpses towards the garden, whilst bringing in air and lightness. It's completely unexpected.
Key to the client's brief was for the extension to have the master bedroom up in a mezzanine,
which would experience the volume of the space and has a closer relationship to the raked ceiling,
getting an appreciation of the texture and materiality. The use of timber is prominent
throughout the home. We work together with Made by Storey. There was an unexpected
level of customisability, using the Made by Storey boards, to make sure that the exact
colour, saturation perfectly tied in with the adjoining materials.
My name is Damir Dzuzdanovic. I'm the co-founder and director of Made by Storey.
As you walk into the home, the first thing you see on the floor is the cinder finish,
which is from the Touch Collection. The charcoal dark tone of cinder complements the white walls
and the light finishes and then when you get to the kitchen and living area,
the beige tone that we've created and customised complements the dark features.
One of the best aspects of this board is the actual bevel that it has on the long side,
which is three millimetres. This makes the actual finish pop and it's a beautiful detail. When you
walk through the home you'll be able to see that detail from every angle, even from a far distance.
That architectural purity and strength, simplicity, its alignment; we needed to
make sure that this key hero of the space was free from any unnecessary ornamentation or distraction
with use of down lights, so we came up with this idea of an led strip,
almost like a thin slither of sunlight that ran from front to back of the space.
Being located in a coastal town, we really wanted the materiality to reference textures required
and often battered by the environments. The light and bright palette, the warmth,
the texture the concrete floors and timber ceilings run seamlessly from inside to out
and the external cladding, pre-weathered,
desaturated to match the internal softened hues was critical throughout this extension.
The biggest challenge we had was to deliver the timber here on site within eight weeks.
I had full faith and trust in Clare to deliver
what Adam wanted to achieve; she's basically a colour wizard.
The brief was to develop a really subtle and natural colour to enhance the oak but also to
tie it in with the other colours in the space, like the natural stone and the other timbers.
Made by Storey product is absolutely premium, so it's a dream to work with. It takes stains
in a gorgeous way and then the grain itself adds an extra layer to whatever you're doing.
We looked at different techniques for brushing the timber so that you got a more or less textural
quality to it. If you are willing to go through that process you get an absolutely stunning
finish that creates a real harmony in the space, which you can absolutely see in Adam Kane's work.
Adam's try for perfection actually suits Made by Storey because we have the same ambition and it
worked well together because end of the day, we both wanted to achieve the same result and would
do whatever it takes to get that result. The texture is visible throughout the oak grain.
The refinement and alignment of all the main elements, removing all the handles from the
doors and joinery and everything having that next level of consideration, all contributed to
enhancing this architectural design and strength of the concept as a whole. The reason why Made by
Storey loves customisation is because it allows us to get creative with interior designers and
architects and bring out a new product into the marketplace that never existed.
Walking through this home today, you see these amazing natural finishes with so much texture,
all tied in with different colour tones that actually suit. It makes me feel very, very proud.