Set atop a grassy knoll on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Norfolk reinterprets the beach house vernacular as a moody and immersive enclave. Its reverse-living layout democratises views across Sorrento golf course, Bass Strait, and Melbourne’s city skyline, with rich and rugged materials echoing the coast’s weathered beauty and perpetuity.

The clients’ desire to differentiate the property from their city residence inspired the designers to create a moody, atmosphere of raw luxury, reminiscent of a private hotel. Rich materials abound, with off-form concrete and stained timber-clad walls, travertine and stained timber floors, deep natural stone, patinaed brass and oxidised metal. Throughout, spaces are composed as a series of experiential moments – from the intimate entry sequence’s spiral stair that incites movement upwards to the light, to the ensuite’s brass-trimmed mirrors that rise to a skylight channel, holding the freestanding bath in softened light.