Melbourne-based design firm typify a cultivated European aesthetic in spaces both near and far. Locally, their excelled as a stately rework of the classic while now across the globe in London, the practice has invoked a modern Australian interpretation of tradition English-style living. Taking its title from the shape of its roof and newfound light-filled spaces, the house embodies the visual transformation from caterpillar to butterfly.
DESIGN | PHOTOGRAPHY Richard Wood
The Butterfly House knows redesign well, residing in what was once an industrial area that’s since been transformed by creatives to a vibrant neighbourhood of boutique stores and galleries. The cramped, dark and constrained townhouse was lacklustre in this East London locale and needed fresh eyes to remove its dated status – a refresh elegantly expressed by Biasol, who have not let anything get in the way of this townhouse soaking up the sun. In the words of the designer themselves, “sunlight is transformative”; a know-how that has converted the experience of a cold space and its influence on the home’s feeling and overall liveability. For Biasol this meant out with the dividing walls and in with an open-plan living, dining and kitchen area, and inserted skylights overhead – creating a sense of space that this 90-square-metre home had longed for.
Biasol subtly create a greater sense of space in their freestanding modular kitchen units. Low-line joinery and integrated appliances give a polished and neat appearance, designed for “unobstructed sight lines” and for an easy flow from kitchen to dining. The clever cabinetry has been brought into the bathroom just as the Herringbone Carrara marble, for an overall refined use of materiality relative to the English details of the home.
The interior encases everything elegant and gently colourful that we associate with the butterfly. Blush pink warms the navy blue, that sit pretty on preserved wooden floorboards and the original fireplaces. To give a true touch of home, they had the brass tapware imported from Australia – balancing each material in an art they are naturally gifted at.
There really are no limits to the sophistication Biasol taps into to create these spaces. Their European design sensibility is right at home in this tasteful East London townhouse – in what we would like to call ‘the butterfly effect’. If one thing is certain, we know this won’t be the last time that London calls.
‘Our design for Butterfly House, a formerly dark East London townhouse, has maximised natural light, capturing the energy it can bring to a space and thereby enhancing family relationships and wellbeing.’
— Biasol
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