Architect Gina Ghioni designed and built this Byron Bay home in the early 1990s for less than $40,000 (just short of $90,000 when adjusting for inflation), but her investment in the property was far beyond monetary.
The current owners, directors of Tanev Muir Architects Laura Muirhead and Peter Tanevski, purchased the home from Gina in 2023, and speak poetically about the late architect’s vision and legacy.
‘The real investment is Gina’s vision to do something out of the ordinary,’ says Peter. ‘Her time and thought is the primary ingredient. She listened to and understood the place, embracing endemic and shaping it. She forged ways around the costs. She envisioned it, and made it.’
Close to 35 years on, the house, known as Villa Ondulata, remains virtually unchanged, with Laura and Peter vowing to uphold Gina’s design intent. Architects themselves, they immediately recognised the house as special when inspecting it for sale.
Gina designed the home under the guidance of her tutors Glen Murcutt and Richard Leplastrier as a frugal, minimal dwelling made from local, affordable and recycled materials including corrugated iron, waterproof MDF, and discounted Oregon and merbau timber from a nearby mill.
‘The vertical structural columns are discarded power poles and span over 10 metres vertically, continuously, with the house framing webbing off them,’ says Peter.
Byron, at the time, was a different place. Photos of the build in progress (scroll down!) show the completely undeveloped site (a former banana farm) with no neighbours in sight.
The house today remains firmly rooted in this context — embracing the local environment both in its construction and how it relates to the outdoors.
The garden is literally central to the design, as Peter explains, ‘It might actually be easier to picture the garden as the centralised living room — a private cloistered space which leads to all of the various rooms of the home.’
Travelling between various wings of the home requires traversing an outdoor corridor, which is strategically orientated and constructed to shield from inclement weather. ‘They have never been an inconvenience in our two years living here,’ says Peter.
The use of timbers throughout the interiors, paired with green, orange and red ‘heritage pub’ tones blend a distinctly Aussie feel with Japanese influences.
‘Life in this home is lived mostly on the edge between nature and the built, with the internal areas of the home providing intimate retreats,’ says Peter. ‘The house feels playful and intelligent simultaneously, and coming home each day is reminiscent of returning to Neverland.’
Sitting in the dining room almost feels like being outdoors, achieved through seven-metre high ceilings that ‘fold’ back down to become intimate nooks.
‘The light that comes through the stained glass windows in the lofts, or the views of the moon through them, adds an ever-changing focal point,’ says Peter. ‘We love the playful nature of the treehouse, but also its refined side, too.’
Laura and Peter have made only subtle changes, confined to the downstairs infill areas, since moving in.
‘The upper original components, which we live in, are largely untouched,’ says Peter. ‘We have a deep respect for the home’s uniqueness and story, and so finding ways to renovate and develop the home must be done with a harmony to that history.’
Past conservations with Gina will likely guide any future works, such as modernising the kitchen.
Peter recalls, ‘Gina mentioned that the kitchen was made with completely scrap material — leftover sheeting, timber framing, beading — and the benchtop is a camphor that was lopped from the yard and chopped up. “I was going to do the kitchen properly, but I kept going to Europe instead. If you do anything soon, it’s the kitchen you should start with,” Gina had said to us, but in many respects even this story has made us appreciate the kitchen in its own sentimental way.’
Already, the house has changed how Laura and Peter live, and the way they work as architects.
‘We are inspired by the practical way Villa Ondulata places an emphasis on living at the edge between the made and natural. It deliberately sacrifices corridors for sheltered, outdoor nooks and gardens,’ says Peter.
‘This home has taught us both to think of outdoor space as so much more sheltering and comforting, when situated in a balance with a dwelling, than previously thought. It has taught us to question if we need as much internal space as we thought; championing frugality and living on the other side of the window in the perfect climate this area is so famous for.’
