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Corker & Bevis Residence
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Just as bayside South Melbourne is made up of many broad, tree-shaded streets lined with large and elegant homes from the Edwardian and Federation periods, it's also a collection of small, shadowy lanes that phantom the larger streets. These narrow bluestoned rightof-ways are airless and unadorned by anything more attractive than a car, with its bonnet up under repair, or a steel roller door half open to reveal a glimpse of garage storage chaos.
And while most people would see it as a disadvantage, Bill Corker and Heather Bevis, husband and wife architectural duo, greeted their discovery of a long neglected block of land fronting a lane way as the perfect location to build a home. It was within minutes of the city and their architecturally progressive and prolific Denton Corker Marshall offices, while being so close to the beach that the smell of salt is in the brisk sea air.
The house is somewhat of a chameleon. It camouflages itself well into the indoor lanescape with a high bagged brick wall and a steel roller door, similar to those of its neighbours. But once beyond this protective shell, a surprisingly open-faced house set in a refreshingly spacious courtyard is revealed.
"The basic idea is a home enclosed by walls so that it is part of the urban fabric," Bevis explains. "We have a rough, bagged grey enclosure within which we've placed a house that allows us the privacy and protection to live outside or inside as we choose."
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