Area: 412 sqm
Family size: 4
Photography: Andrew Wuttke and Robert Davidov
Design: Davidov Architects

About Studio

As a design studio, we work with our clients to distill their needs, discarding the latest trends to arrive at an outcome that enhances and supports their lifestyle. Our designs are understated in character, opting for a sense of permanence and solidity in their execution. Material, space, and light are modified through a lens of simplicity creating meaningful spaces that nourish and uplift us.

Through a pared-back approach to our architecture and interiors, our work spans a range of scales and typologies from private houses, multi-residential projects, and homewares to institutional work. Our approach to each new commission is to build a strong relationship with our clients to unlock their vision.

To do this we must first gain an understanding of our client’s motivations and character as well as an understanding of the site and its potential. By discarding the latest trends and embracing an approach of simplicity and order, we arrive at a pragmatic yet poetic outcome.

The studio’s design direction is driven by a desire for refined simplicity and the personal; drawing inspiration from memory and an appreciation of the understated and vernacular. Travels through the Levant, Latin America, and rural Europe meld with recollections of life in Melbourne.

Our designs focus on crafting warm minimalist spaces through the principles of proportion, spatial sequence, composition, materiality, and light. The result is the creation of architecture that is timeless.

Robert Davidov is an active member of the local architecture community, heavily involved as a committee member of Architeam, and is currently mentoring the next generation of architects through the University of Melbourne and the Australian Institute of Architects.

He was awarded the Ernest Fooks Memorial Award for Design and the FMSA Award for Architecture and Construction. He has been named to the Dean’s Honours List on 5 occasions.

The home is constructed on an irregular-shaped block, and its ground floor is organized around three distinct zones that are divided by two glass interstitial spaces.

As you enter the house, the linear layout offers moments of containment and growth.

The basic style of the six-person hardwood dining table might draw attention, and the space is finished off with a cabinetry that is entirely black. — The basic style of the six-person hardwood dining table might draw attention, and the space is finished off with cabinetry that is entirely black.

The dining room is facing a huge display that allows views of the outside.

Everything in the kitchen is all-black, including the screen windows, sink, appliances, and cupboards.

Because of the light that entered via the wide glass, the staircase was illuminated.

The restricted color palette of natural materials can be seen.

The wide glass window in the bedroom has a screen to limit light, giving the room a bright and neutral tint.

This new house is built on an irregular block with the ground floor of the house conceived around three distinct zones punctured by two glazed interstitial spaces. The linear arrangement of the house provides moments of containment and expansion as you enter the house. The limited palette of natural materials will patina and become more pronounced over time, adding another layer of interest and subtle contrast.