Discreetly classy

The Mount Eliza residence was built in 2021 in the exclusive Australian seaside resort of Mornington, a coastal area where access to the beaches is primarily via residential roads leading from exclusive dream homes. One of these is the residence designed by Australian practice Architecture Caisson, which chose the word “caisson” for its name to convey the idea of an armature that protects its clients’ construction projects. The firm’s mission is to pursue architectural spaces that celebrate life and culture and to deliver well-crafted buildings of high design quality that are sympathetic to their local environment and well fitted to their context. The two units of the Mount Eliza residence have an L-shaped structure consisting of a larger rectangular space for the common and social functions and a smaller side housing a library and guest room. On the ground floor, the kitchen, dining room and living room form a large open-plan living space that opens onto the outdoor area by means of a sliding glass door. This area is designed as an extension of the outdoor living and relaxation area adjacent to the private swimming pool. The interiors are extremely bright thanks to the windows that open on several sides and create a sense of visual unity with the surrounding environment. The colours are pale and neutral while the furnishings are designed to resonate perfectly with the refined, minimalist shading, lighting and heating solutions, creating a harmonious composition of horizontal and vertical lines that extend smoothly into the outdoor area. The sense of seamless continuity between the interior and exterior is also achieved by the unifying effect of the flooring, the only difference between the interior living area and the outdoor space being the thickness and finish. In keeping with their goals of high quality construction, the architects chose an elegant, hygienic, durable, hard-wearing and eco-sustainable floor covering material in the form of Sunrise porcelain stoneware from Panaria Ceramica’s Horizon collection. By reproducing the shades and textures of stone, this material enhances the feeling of being immersed in nature – both in the kitchen and living room and even more so in the outdoor areas. The tiles for the exterior dining and swimming pool areas were chosen in a textured finish and 20 mm thickness to ensure greater resistance to cracking and thermal shock. Panaria Ceramica also supplied Glen porcelain stoneware surfaces from the Fiordo collection for the bathroom floors.