Arli Homes’ unique architect‑builder process ensures they are a single source for your entire build journey. Far from the stereotypical display home, Arli collaborates with DKO Architecture and designer Ian Browne to create beautifully considered spaces tailored to your needs, wants and desires. One of their latest builds is Project Alston in Williamstown, where a historic overlay and triangular block gave the team reason to think a little outside the box.
Building any home is about getting your ducks in row, but when working with Arli Homes, imagine the ducks neatly sorted, arranged by height, colour and ability to form a ‘V’. The team are ready to go, even before you walk through the door.
Speak with Sharon Calleja, Co-Founder of Arli Homes, or any of the Arli team and you’ll soon start to get the idea; this is a collaboration. Building homes need not be confusing, and by approaching it as they do, as a single source process, your journey to a beautifully designed and well considered home will be a smooth and memorable one – for all the right reasons.
Project Alston, in historic Williamstown, a bayside suburb in Melbourne’s southwest demonstrates the Arli philosophy in a nutshell. Both architect and builder collaborated early to navigate council and planning constraints, while maximising an unusually shaped site. The exterior presents a contemporary home designed to feel at ease amongst Williamstown’s old-world charm, with a palette that complements its surrounds, while remaining confident, true and approachable.
This is a light filled home and one of calm and peace with a warm palette that incorporates texture and tactility with great success. Once over the threshold, Project Alston is a sanctuary of sorts, with an interior that is highly detailed, yet remarkably quiet – one that rewards inquisitiveness and further inspection.
“Every decision was made to reduce visual noise and allow the materiality and proportions of the space to take precedence,” explains Calleja, “we utilised reversed bevelled edging to the joinery, creating a more seamless and refined finish across drawers and cabinetry. This was paired with concealed cabinetry, push-to-close mechanisms, and floor-to-ceiling joinery to maintain clean, uninterrupted lines throughout the home.”
The brick work of the exterior – GB Masonry Arcadia in Desert Sunrise, from Brickworks – has been brought inside and has been used to not just establish the exterior palette but as a central part of the interior design.
“[This is] not just as a construction material, but the foundation of the design language,” says Calleja. “We used it to form the façade, and the chimney and then brought it inside to anchor the fireplace, entertainment unit and the bar. Because the [brick] was so central, every decision around colour, form and detail was made to complement it.”
Part of that collection of complementary choices is Laminex Light Walnut AbsoluteGrain®. It’s pale yellow-brown tone evokes classic furniture and here - with its subtle textural variation and matte finish - continues the home’s dedication to premium finishes.
“One of the key advantages of Laminex is their range and how it allows us to extend a single material language across multiple applications within the home.”
“For Project Alston, which sits at a higher spec level, we were very conscious of where we invested and where we could create efficiencies without compromising the design outcome. We specified Laminex AbsoluteGrain®, because it gave us the ability to achieve the warmth and tactility of natural veneer, without the associated cost, allowing us to reduce cabinetry costs while maintaining a premium aesthetic, reallocating budget into other areas of the home where detail, materiality and craftsmanship could be further elevated.”
Project Alston is a design-led space, full of integrated joinery and seamless detail. Get behind the front door and one forgets the outside world and a sense of lightness takes hold; you float from room to room without any visual roadblocks, recognising it as a place of connectedness and security. The stone, oak, bronze and linen tones impart stillness and balance, and the gentle lighting and use of restraint reinforce a feeling of simplicity, where every space invites pause and comfort.
Project Alston is a holistic space achieved by maintaining a strict palette of materials and tones throughout. In the bathrooms, Laminex Chamois applies its soft greyed-green to the stone and tiles of the wet areas and links – unsurprisingly – back to the quiet grey undertones of the Laminex Light Walnut, not a thing out of place. For Laminex, Project Alston and by extension Arli Homes, reveals the strength of AbsoluteGrain® and its ability to replicate natural timber. Architects and builders can make considered material selections while avoiding compromise to meet a budget. It’s here that Laminex has now established itself beyond the alternative, but the go to for architects and designers looking to deliver high-end, resolved homes, while still maintaining cost efficiency.
Project Alston strikes a balance between connectedness to the streetscape and as an escape. Familiar and welcoming, it manages to surprise and bring joy, through hidden cabinetry and convivial inclusions (the hidden bar for example) or by imagining the hospitality potential of the kitchen and oversized island. Yet, at the end of the day, this is a home that wore its intentions on its sleeve; live simple, be generous and be open. And it’s hard to disagree with the results, Arli Homes made sure this was a home that respected its place and the liveable space it needed to be.
Learn more about the project and explore Arli Homes work on their website.
Credits:
Interior Design: DKO Architecture
Architecture & Build: Arli Homes
Styling & Creative Direction: Navy Panel & Co
Photography: Timothy Kaye
Banner image features the Project Alston Kitchen.
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