Studio Bright

Set in a leafy Melbourne suburb overlooking a bushland reserve, Hedge and Arbour House by Studio Bright redefines the relationship between suburban living and landscape. Instead of presenting a conventional façade to the street, the house is shielded by a tall, sculptural hedge that forms a walled garden at the front of the site. This green threshold transforms the approach to the home and allows the architecture to engage directly with its surrounding gardens and the parkland beyond.


The main volume of the house is oriented east–west along the southern edge of the site to capture northern light and provide privacy from neighbouring properties. A perpendicular wing holds the living and kitchen areas, opening onto garden courtyards on both sides. This arrangement creates a series of connected indoor–outdoor spaces that are sheltered yet deeply integrated with the landscape.


A delicate steel arbour wraps the building, enclosing a veranda space and providing support for climbing vines. This second skin softens the house’s robust masonry walls, offering protection from wind and harsh sunlight while lending the structure a lighter, more permeable character. The house is further defined by garden walls: one a retaining wall and the other enclosing the walled garden at the front, reinforcing the home’s sense of being embedded in its landscape rather than dominating it.


Inside, the plan is efficient and practical. Children’s bedrooms open with sliding doors onto a shared corridor that doubles as a bench and study space, encouraging use of the common areas rather than retreat into private rooms. Toward the western edge of the site, where the land drops steeply, the house does not project out as an overt gesture; instead, it gently follows the topography, with the landscape-clad lower level stepping down to meet the ground.


Sustainability was central to the project’s design. By prioritising passive strategies—optimising orientation for sunlight, enabling cross-ventilation, and minimising the need for mechanical heating and cooling—the house achieves environmental performance without technical complexity.


The landscaping, developed in collaboration with Bush Projects, moves away from the traditional suburban lawn, introducing native plantings at the entry and maintaining a restrained open lawn to the rear. This considered approach to both architecture and garden creates a home that is compact, resilient, and deeply connected to its setting.


Hedge and Arbour House was awarded the Harold Desbrowe Annear Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New) at the 2025 Victorian Architecture Awards, recognised as a replicable and forward-thinking model for suburban housing where built form and landscape are integrated with sensitivity and innovation.