With architecture by Woods Bagot, interior design by Hecker Guthrie, and landscape architecture by ACRE, Barry Street marks Woods Bagot’s fourth collaboration with Piccolo, adding to a legacy of design excellence and an evolving portfolio of exquisitely crafted residences.

“Every Piccolo House begins with the right location,” says Director Michael Piccolo. “It’s not just about where we build, but why. This is our most thoughtful and refined project to date.”  

The site at 18 Barry Street sits within the Studley Park precinct in one of Kew’s most established pockets, five kilometres east of the CBD. Leveraging a corner site in one of the suburb’s most tightly held enclaves, the project represents a unique proposition in a neighbourhood defined by its rich heritage, leafy aspect, and residential charm.

“This part of Kew holds some of the most significant post-war modernist architecture in Victoria,” says Woods Bagot Principal Ana Sá. “Adopting modernist principles of robust forms, limited materiality, and clean geometry, the architecture aspires to honour the neighbourhood’s history – not mimic it.”

Five finely-scaled buildings sit gently within the established landscape, their form and materiality influenced by the rhythm of the street. Intentional massing decisions have been considered, breaking down the proposed building mass into a series of buildings that sit comfortably in the surrounding context.

“It was clear that one big building wasn’t going to work, so we split the mass into five smaller buildings that skim across the site like a series of stepping stones,” says Sá. “That allowed us to introduce more corners, more windows, and more connections to light and garden.”

“It’s very much horizontal architecture,” adds Woods Bagot Director Peter Miglis, “in incorporating floating plates, terraces, long lines that open out into the landscape. The terraces allow people to live outwards, into the view, the garden, the surrounds; it feels generous.”

The site features a significant slope with a 4.8-metre drop from end-to-end. Like the works of the great Australian modernists, the architecture leans into the site topography, carving into the slope and occupying the undercroft.

A cantilevered concrete portal creates a sculptural entry statement, framing the arrival experience and paying homage to the modernist tradition. Materiality is characterised by luxury and restraint, incorporating a palette of slate, board-form concrete, natural stone and steel, selected for their ability to patina over time.

Homes are ensconced in verdant gardens, with one third of the total site dedicated to planting and green space. Combining continental form with native Australian wilderness, landscape architects integrate elements of formal symmetry and rigour with organic geometry, naturalistic shapes, and soft edges for a diverse, sensory garden that shifts with the seasons.

“The relationship between architecture and landscape is integral to the design philosophy at Barry Street,” says Miglis. “The masterplan revolves around seamless integration of indoor and out. We worked closely with the landscape architects at Acre to ensure that the planting and built form coalesce, integrating green climbing walls, rooftop gardens, even a central ‘meadow’ space. The idea was to let the buildings feel immersed in – not imposed on – the landscape.”

The “meadow” is an elevated green nucleus at the heart of the site. Its sheer area creates relief between each of the residential pavilions, carving out a green oasis at the centre of the site. Beneath the elevated meadow, shared amenities, like the residence guest suite, are discreetly tucked beneath, carved into the slope.  

Building masses are broken up by meandering pathways that weave between the pavilions, creating verdant pedestrian links through the site. “The creation of a green spine meant we could create little laneways and pockets that feel intimate, almost like you’re moving through a small neighbourhood,” adds Miglis.

Internally, residences are bestowed with house-like proportions, with high ceilings, dual aspects, and integrated storage. A muted material palette of white-washed oak, vein-cut silver travertine and porcelain flooring is punctuated with moments of drama through light, form, and proportion.

Barry Street comprises 60 residents across five boutique buildings within a biophilic residential community. Onsite amenities include a concierge, a guest suite (for residents to host friends and family), subterranean wine cellar, and wellness amenity, including a yoga studio, sauna, cold plunge, and indoor thermal pool. Two- and three-bedroom residences are selling now; enquire here.

View Woods Bagot and Piccolo’s previous collaborations: Garden House, Elwood House, and Gore Street. 

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Isla Sutherland
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