Although the light-coloured woods and minimalist approach to furniture design and placement were all intended to help combat the lack of light in the darker, shorter days of the Northern hemisphere, the stylish look is as popular in comparatively sunnier Australian homes as anywhere else as we constantly re-invent the look with contemporary twists.
Given that design is often influenced by its surroundings, the Scandi-inspired theme is being given a modern Australian coastal interpretation in the Orabel development in Seaford. Positioned on Port Phillip Bay, and a gateway to the Mornington Peninsula, Seaford boasts over five kilometres of clean sandy beaches, safe swimming and a bush reserve with walking tracks along Kananook Creek. It is here, in a prime location between both the bay and the creek, that The Resimax Group is placing the 140 apartments of Orabel.
Orabel is the latest collaboration between Resimax and international award-winning Hachem Architects. The Seaford site, with indigenous vegetation near the creek at the rear and a beach vista at the front, has specifically inspired the aesthetic of both the building and its interiors. “You’re in a different environment down there,” says Hachem’s Director of Architecture Brendan Shannon of the location, about forty minutes by train from the CBD.
Inspired by the sea, the development’s floating roof line is curved. “We wanted to have something that was evocative of water and the ocean at the front,” says Shannon. The brief, says Resimax Sales Director Ken Dodds, was for Hachem to “create an inspirational looking building that would be a landmark”.
The nearby bushland also inspired them to make the building taller so its footprint would be smaller and allow more opportunity for greenery. “So you put the building in a setting that is more natural,” says Shannon of the four-level complex, which features landscape design by John Patrick.
The two and half levels of parking underground, which includes an extra 90 spots, further maintains an idyllic seaside feel. “There’s no public parking areas along that foreshore for quite a distance so when you go to the beach it’s not over-populated. In fact, more often than not it’s deserted. Because people can’t park anywhere, they don’t go to that section so you walk across the road from the development and there you are, you’ve basically got the beach to yourself,” he says.
“Their views can never ever be blocked out,” says Resimax Sales Director Ken Dodds. “The development basically sits between what you might describe as two national parks, so the apartments at the back of the development are overlooking Kananook creek and the wetlands, and that view will never be taken away. And, of course, the views to the front of the property can never be taken away either. From the top level you can see all the way from the city, way around past Frankston down towards Mornington, right across, on a clear day, to the other side of the bay,” he says.
This proximity to the coast and the views has also influenced the internal look of Orabel. “They’re pretty clean, beachy looking interiors,” says Dodds, who liked the look of the apartments so much he purchased one for himself. “Overall the style of the building is one that blends in with that landscape, including the interiors,” he says.
“When it comes to the Scandinavian side, we’re big on using natural materials,” says Shannon. “Typically these days a lot of people like to use things like acrylic render and its kind of faked up stuff. We’re into expressing natural materials, and because we’re near the beach we wanted that kind of natural flavour to the things that we touch.”
Timber and timber-pressed concrete encase the building. These natural colours and textures flow through into the interiors as well. “If you can imagine that sort of beachy relaxed feel to the fabrics and the timber, that’s where the Scandinavian influence comes in,” he says.
The beach feel is also drawn inwards via the use of glazing. A floor-to-ceiling three-storey glazed foyer eliminates the line between inside and out, while the individual apartments all have bay, creek or garden outlooks. “There’s a lot of glass and open views,” says Shannon. “We’re not in the CBD, it’s just acknowledging a different environment and trying to bring that through in the interiors as well”.
For more information, visit www.orabel.com.au or call 9998 5683.