Liberated from the bounds of traditional materiality, Butterfly House is the striking resurrection of a Victorian-era villa. In addition to invigorating the existing two-storey residence, Neil Architecture created a contemporary counterpart that blends architecture, interior and landscape. This single-level pavilion blurs the barriers between inside and out, an experience facilitated by our Technifirma range which was invaluable in creating the home’s graceful flowing aesthetic.
In Melbourne’s leafy Malvern, the original period villa provided a pleasant retreat in a coveted neighbourhood. But with a vision to extend the life of their family home, as well as desiring greater connection to nature, plentiful light, more bedrooms and a pool, the homeowners approached Neil Architecture. The result is a contemporary pavilion that acts like a sanctum, gently cocooning its occupants while opening generously to the landscape and creating courtyards between the new and old volumes.
With this abundance of verdant foliage and northern sunlight, the pavilion is informed by its environment, welcoming the landscaping to form an intrinsic element of the interior. A consistent material palette runs throughout the garden and within to achieve a sublime connectedness. Pivotal to achieving this is the use of our versatile Technifirma Lido across walls and floors, inside and outside.
Technifirma Lido proved the ideal canvas for much of the pavilion. Engineered from porcelain, the robust paving emulates the texture, creamy warmth and soft marbling of travertine. Imbuing restrained sophistication, the surface grounds the extension, forming flooring that journeys underfoot from outside to indoors.
Similarly, Lido shapes sweeping wall faces and signature butterfly columns that appear within and externally, their solidity reaching upward to meet and match the geometric roof in both palette and grandeur. Most impressive is how Lido fabricates the pavilion’s columns. Resembling the outstretched wings of a butterfly, each column sees the tiles meet at a perfect angle. Critical to achieving this seamless finish is the material’s inherent strength and matching body colour that allows the tile edge to remain exposed.
Technifirma’s remarkable durability allows it to withstand heat, water absorption and heavy foot traffic, its tactile surface possessing a faint rippling that echoes the texture of natural stone. Rich in both aesthetic and function, these properties offer a non-slip and luxurious finish for Butterfly House’s swimming pool coping.
A Technifirma product with a subtly coarser character than Lido forms the border, allowing water to flow easily across its textured planes and cascade over the pool’s wet edge.
Invaluable to shaping the pavilion’s unique profile and spatial experience, Technifirma’s skilful application highlights the flexibility of imaginative materiality. Leaping from floor tiling to splash its marbled veining generously throughout Butterfly House’s innovative architecture, the surface becomes a priceless tool for fabrication.
Echoing the permanence of the Victorian brick villa while remaining decidedly contemporary, each carefully engineered tile anchors the pavilion with calm solidity. Extending into the garden spaces to blur the lines of outdoor living, backyard becomes front of mind, with Technifirma firmly in the limelight.
