The Northcote House, surrounded by large factory lofts and Victorian church halls, by Preston-based practice LLDS reflects the urban context and character of the neighbourhood of Wurundjeri Country in Australia. The compact inner city residence in the suburbs of Melbourne takes cues from the Victorian terrace house design, featuring three staircases and two terraces that form a visual and physical relationship with the surrounding area. The site, oriented east-west, was a former car parking space, 22m long and 4.6m wide, featuring trellis-inspired facades to allow plants to climb and eventually envelop the residence.

Since the project architect of the Northcote House is also its owner, the residence embodies the client’s way of life, "a home with a series of pocket-gathering spaces for groups of introverts," as the architects state in the press release. The two-storeyed house features a staircase and terrace in the front that leads to the central staircase, followed by an open kitchen and dining space. The central spiral staircase acts as a sculptural design element and facilitates spatial separation for the bedrooms on the lower level as it forms a seating; the residential interiors have no doors, except the bathrooms, to allow the client’s dog to move freely around the house.

The skylights in the centre of the house bring ventilation and natural light to the central seating space that the architects define as a snug, featuring bespoke upholstery, dark green curtains of velvet and furnishings made of locally sourced by-products of farming, such as kangaroo and deer hide. Both the bedrooms feature vaulted and textured concrete ceilings and walls, creating neutral spaces with minimal design that overlook the compound. The rear yard offers privacy for activities such as an outdoor shower and includes a third staircase design, made of metal, that leads to the green roof. The front terrace and yard offer views of the lively neighbourhood and views of Mount Macedon can be savoured from the rooftop.

An innovative construction process and sustainable design through materials and structure formed the foundation of the residential design. Data collected through point cloud scanning enabled the architects to achieve accuracy and precision in the manufacturing of the timber roof and the formwork for concrete walls. The internal partitions, steel facade and roof can be reused or altered in the future, while the concrete boundary wall is a permanent structure. The free-form green roof is made of timber and forms a garden on top, which reduces energy consumption for the building, with an integrated rainwater harvesting system.

Established in 2012 by Australian architects David Leggett and Paul Loh, LLDS is an architectural practice that experiments with sustainable construction processes using a variety of digital technologies. All the materials used in the house were chosen for their natural texture, patina and durability. Several components of sustainability, including passive design strategies through the roof, trellis facade design, heat exchanger and 3000 litres of water retention, were locally manufactured by utilising advanced Computer Numerical Control (CNC) and robotics technologies.

The CNC-milled polyisocyanurate (PIR) sheets were used in the interior design of the residence and its roof insulation, for properties such as durability, lightweightedness, moisture resistance, fire resistance, high thermal performance and high compressive strength. The concrete casting utilised reusable technopolymer formwork instead of timber, while bricks from the existing structure’s demolition were repurposed for the new construction, along with other reclaimed and recycled materials.

The residential architecture of the Northcote House demonstrates an interplay of light, material and texture that prioritises warmth, tactility and fluidity in forms and spaces. To overcome the challenge of having a limited footprint, the design of the house does not cater to the traditional hierarchy of spaces and provides layered and dynamic experiences adapting to the changing needs of the residents, centred around their natural surroundings and lifestyle to enhance comfort and functionality.