Bishops See Condominium Complex

Perth, Australia

Judith DiMaio

Australia Northwest Properties

Complex program: Luxury and supreme virtuosity of design were the name of the game for this project. Australia Northwest Properties’ brief was for the development of opulent, and highly-private dwellings: duplexes, a triplex and two villas. All units were designed to include private elevators and parking, lap pools, and outdoor gardens. Their clientele was intended to be mostly Middle Eastern and Asian, all drawn to Perth for its ‘high roller’ casino lifestyle.

Site considerations: The site was a former plantation and garden, lush with tropical flowers and vegetation, coursed with water. The site slopes down to, and overlooks, the majestic Swan River.

Site strategies: DiMaio was sought out because of her ability to juggle complex site strategies and a highly-complex program brief, which not only was intended to provide luxuriousness spatially, but a residential complex where no one client ever crossed paths with, or saw, another. Therefore, the mastery of the design was in DiMaio’s ability to devise a complex building section allowing for ultimate privacy through alternating patterns of circulation bypassing one another. The duplexes and triplex are accessed by individual bridgeways leading to private, double- height terraces and private elevators to private parking and drop-off below.

Bishops See, Perth, Australia

The facade: An elaborate series of cut-outs and diaphanous screened terraces ventilate each unit and provide light and air for the lap pools and entry sequences. The villas have internal gardens, pools and spas clipped onto the enclosing garden wall, on the one hand, and screened by abundant tropical vegetation on the other, while being visually connected to the interior garden and water courses.