A landscaped community

Overture is a new community for the leafy inner Melbourne suburb of Kew. Here, Bruce Henderson Architects has reinterpreted the Victorian terrace home as a series of modern townhouses which are clustered around a central garden area and landscaped internal streets.

Creating a Landscaped Community

The landscaped streets and central garden area are critical to embedding an immediate sense of community.

To connect these internal streets and garden to the cul-de-sac, direct sight lines from Barenya Court through to Central Garden Area were created.

As well as contributing to the landscape neighbourhood character, the project was designed around the neighbouring tree root protection zones to retain the local vegetation and to replace existing unhealthy vegetation with an abundance of new growth.

Heritage inspiration for the modern townhouse

Bruce Henderson Architects took inspiration from the surrounding heritage Victorian homes when designing the modern terrace homes of Overture. Vertical party walls, repetitive balustrade detailing, and contemporary metal picket fences are all key elements of the two and three-storey homes.

The overall design is an act of restraint. It focuses on simple yet well-proportioned framing with a pared-back colour palette and smooth, calming materials. Feature “stone highlights” stand out as spectacular focal points of elegance and luxury.

Considered landscape design

The landscape design derives from Asian, particularly Japanese, landscape principles, harmonising with nature in a very fluid, organic way and complementing the calming nature of the architecture.