Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Sep 01, 2025

An Undulating, Matte Black Home Hides a Secret Garden Within Its Walls

An Undulating, Matte Black Home Hides a Secret Garden Within Its Walls

Wood Marsh Architecture brings a sculptural aesthetic to a holiday escape in Melbourne, Australia.

When viewed from the street, with homes straddling either side of it, the Portsea House has an exterior that doesn’t prepare you for what’s inside. That’s precisely how the owners wanted it, according to Melbourne-based Wood Marsh Architecture-they sought to surprise themselves and their visitors, too.



"Its a very unusual building in the sense that it gives nothing away from the street," says founding partner and architect, Randal Marsh. The elements of light and dark-and openness and containment-drive the home’s design, anchored by a curving blade wall that unfurls like a scroll across the site, providing near-complete privacy from the street.



The home, says Marsh, is blank to the street-yet it opens up with an internal courtyard and orients to the rear, where an outdoor pool area overlooks the broader landscape. Dictated by the land’s natural slope, the design addresses the owner’s desire for "a sense of occasion and monumentality."



"They were very keen on achieving that in a very abstract, sculptural way-so that it doesn’t necessarily look like a house, or anything else," says Marsh. "We’ve approached it with a minimal palette of materiality," he adds, pointing to the sand-colored earth wall holding the building to the ground, and the lightweight black-painted timber covering the walls.



The home’s three wings (the kitchen/living area, primary bedroom, and guest room) radiate outward from a terrarium that acts like a central pivot or anchor point. The overall effect is sculptural to its core-and entirely in line with Wood Marsh’s prevailing architectural aesthetic of rendering flowing designs by playing with solidity and transparency, with a deference to limited palettes.



Indigenous exterior plantings work to frame and filter views, giving the home a close connection to nature. Landscaping also doubles as internal wallpaper in the home’s living area, which is lined with full-height glazed walls. The space is accessed via a grand staircase that leads up from the entryway in the monolithic blade wall.



Outside, a sweeping deck follows the site’s natural slope to a pool area screened by a curved low masonry wall that nods to the building’s prevailing form while offering privacy-an important consideration for both the homeowners and architects. "Right from the beginning, 40 years ago, it’s been a feature of our architecture not to give anything away from the street," says Marsh.


Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×