The clients initially wanted RMA to renovate a rundown Victorian-era property, but discussions led us to design the ultimate contemporary inner-city home – both an oasis in the city and a real party house.

Rob Mills

Ross Street is an example of RMA’s ability to respond to the character of the client and create the maximum sense of space, light and amenity. “Our client likes to entertain, have parties – and know the house is robust enough to cope with it,” says Mills.

The linear modernity of the house takes on elements of drama as the rendered steel sculptural staircase plays a pivotal role in the floor plan, separating the formal and casual spaces.

After collaborating with Scott Walker on the original interior, Rob Mills notes, “This was designed at a time when the contemporary visual references were those of Italian brands such as Poliform and Flexform, where materiality and surface treatment, minimal palettes and restraint were the prevailing aesthetic.”

RMA took those principles and designed a modern and perfectly detailed home. Through the use of frameless glass and continuous masonry walls from inside to out, the lines between the two disappear. The 13.5-metre pool running along the entire north side of the house ensures that water or greenery is the outlook, while the zinc kitchen benches and polished concrete floors nod to a refined industrial look.

Balanced by the warmth of finely detailed timber joinery and the sunlight that floods the house, Ross Street is the ultimate inner-city residence.