Designer Profile: Melonie Bayl-Smith on Capturing the View
Every project should interact with its environment, and there is always a view or vista that can be captured
Melonie Bayl-Smith of Bijl Architecture shines a light on her approach to residential architecture and design.
What are the three most important things to consider when designing a home?
- How do you envision you will live in your ‘ideal’ home? Is this the same or different to how you live now?
- What do you see as being the opportunities and challenges that the design will need to answer, i.e. site location, orientation, views, neighbours, access, possible or likely future life scenarios, etc.
- What is the most important outcome for your project to achieve?
How should a client form a brief for their home?
We ask our clients to consider how they derive comfort, and how they wish to feel when they are spending time at home. This includes everything from when they come in the front door after a long day, to when they spend time with family and friends. We also consider their needs for when they are having quiet time or listening to music, when they walk from inside to outside and back inside again, and how they want to interact with natural light, views etc.
A brief should also outline the functional needs and utility that the client desires. This might sound mundane, but articulating the project this way allows the brief and the potential design outcomes to be considered in a variety of ways.
We ask our clients to consider how they derive comfort, and how they wish to feel when they are spending time at home. This includes everything from when they come in the front door after a long day, to when they spend time with family and friends. We also consider their needs for when they are having quiet time or listening to music, when they walk from inside to outside and back inside again, and how they want to interact with natural light, views etc.
A brief should also outline the functional needs and utility that the client desires. This might sound mundane, but articulating the project this way allows the brief and the potential design outcomes to be considered in a variety of ways.
What’s the first thing you do when you need to prune the budget for a project?
At the Concept Design stage, we provide our clients with an Opinion of Probable Cost, to demonstrate where we think cost sits in relation to their brief and proposed budget. If we then need to prune costs, we look to reduce the overall floor area of the works without compromising the intent of the brief.
If this is not feasible, we then work with the client to determine where the real priorities sit in relation to the brief and quality of fit-out/spec. This allows the cost management of the project to be collaborative and open, which in turn better manages expectations for the project.
Wairangi House
At the Concept Design stage, we provide our clients with an Opinion of Probable Cost, to demonstrate where we think cost sits in relation to their brief and proposed budget. If we then need to prune costs, we look to reduce the overall floor area of the works without compromising the intent of the brief.
If this is not feasible, we then work with the client to determine where the real priorities sit in relation to the brief and quality of fit-out/spec. This allows the cost management of the project to be collaborative and open, which in turn better manages expectations for the project.
Wairangi House
What’s the one thing you always include in a project?
Capturing a specific view or vista – regardless of how beautiful or unremarkable the site surrounds might be, every project presents the opportunity to recalibrate and focus the interaction of the dwelling with its environment, making it a compelling and enjoyable place to live.
Capturing a specific view or vista – regardless of how beautiful or unremarkable the site surrounds might be, every project presents the opportunity to recalibrate and focus the interaction of the dwelling with its environment, making it a compelling and enjoyable place to live.
Who is an established Australian architect/designer you admire?
John Wardle – he has grown a successful, vibrant practice that capably straddles a diversity of project scales, types, clients and locations. His own home is one of my favourite pieces of residential architecture – detailed with beauty, functionality and longevity in mind.
Burrawong House
John Wardle – he has grown a successful, vibrant practice that capably straddles a diversity of project scales, types, clients and locations. His own home is one of my favourite pieces of residential architecture – detailed with beauty, functionality and longevity in mind.
Burrawong House
Who is an emerging Australian architect/designer to watch?
GelliKovic Architects – not just because Tamara and Belinda are great designers with a burgeoning portfolio of hospitality projects, but they demonstrate leadership through teaching at university and visibly participate in the activities of the broader architectural community.
GelliKovic Architects – not just because Tamara and Belinda are great designers with a burgeoning portfolio of hospitality projects, but they demonstrate leadership through teaching at university and visibly participate in the activities of the broader architectural community.
Do you prefer a big or small home, and why?
Small(er) home – because great design thinks ahead. A small home reduces the use of resources in its construction, its occupation and its inevitable future maintenance. It also brings people together, for better or for worse – you can’t hide in a small house.
Escu House
Small(er) home – because great design thinks ahead. A small home reduces the use of resources in its construction, its occupation and its inevitable future maintenance. It also brings people together, for better or for worse – you can’t hide in a small house.
Escu House
Which is best, high-tech or low-tech, and why?
I’ll probably contradict myself here – I like high-tech items that minimise energy usage, or that harvest energy, to enable the building to be sustainable and self-sufficient in its occupation. However, while a number of our clients have installed home automation, I’d rather get up from my seat and turn the light on or off.
I’ll probably contradict myself here – I like high-tech items that minimise energy usage, or that harvest energy, to enable the building to be sustainable and self-sufficient in its occupation. However, while a number of our clients have installed home automation, I’d rather get up from my seat and turn the light on or off.
What’s you favourite room in the home, and why?
The family room. In my modest apartment, the open-plan family room is the place of frequent family interactions, and also acts as the receptacle in which all the books, records, music, instruments and other various prized possessions are contained. Conversations over dinner, impromptu jam sessions, listening to vinyl, playing boardgames: if it’s happening in the house, it’s happening in the family room.
Naremburn House
The family room. In my modest apartment, the open-plan family room is the place of frequent family interactions, and also acts as the receptacle in which all the books, records, music, instruments and other various prized possessions are contained. Conversations over dinner, impromptu jam sessions, listening to vinyl, playing boardgames: if it’s happening in the house, it’s happening in the family room.
Naremburn House
What do you do?
I’m an architect. Across the many and varied tasks undertaken for any given project, I spend a lot of time ensuring that every aspect of the design and the architectural process is well considered and communicated clearly. I guess you could call me a good design evangelist!