Palm Springs meets Inner South at Canberra architect's home

At first thought, Palm Springs and Canberra don’t have a whole lot in common, and the palm trees and sun-worshipping lifestyle of the Californian hotspot seem worlds away from the nation’s capital.

But climatically, the two are fairly on par, and it was this perhaps surprising link that inspired local architect Steven Cetrtek from Thursday Architecture when designing his family’s dream home.

He was living just around the corner with his wife Lisa and two daughters when they noticed the property come up for sale in December 2019. Sitting on a quiet street in Griffith, a dilapidated home was sitting on the knock-down-rebuild-block of their dreams.

The couple had previously restored and extended the 1960s Oliphant home they were living in and didn’t have plans to move for a very long time, but the block presented too good an opportunity. After being successful at auction, Cetrtek got planning that evening.

Starting with a blank canvas, he was driven by practicality and function for their family of four, designing a floor plan with great flow and beautiful proportions of space, with plenty of natural light.

“I love Palm Springs architecture, not just because of how it looks, but also how it performs. The Canberra climate is very similar to the California climate, where you’ve got these hot summers and cold winters. And so the house is actually a climatic response,” Cetrtek says.

Built by D3 Projects, the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home has subtle level changes to suit the topography. Beyond the very Palm Springs open courtyard entrance, complete with a water feature, the lower level accommodates the master bedroom. Just adjacent to the front door, the en suite’s show-stopping curved shower gives form to the curved concrete wall of the front facade.

Up a couple of stairs to the mid-level is the living, dining and kitchen space – with a high, raked ceiling – which provides a backdrop for the outdoor terrace and pool area. Up another couple of steps, the upper level accommodates the kids’ rooms and a rumpus room.

Each level is defined by its flooring; polished concrete covers the main living area, while the upper and lower levels have parquetry timber flooring. The timber was salvaged from the original house’s roof structure and is the only thing that remains from it.

The home’s mid-century, Palm Springs design flows through an internal palette of mixed natural stone and terrazzo, while a ’60s aesthetic is dotted throughout.

Its bold, monumental facade features blonde bricks in stack bond form blended with bold concrete, which is more a nod to some of Canberra’s brutalist national monuments.

Clever use of levels and subtle stairs creates the illusion of a ’60s-style sunken lounge room which actually sits flush with the entrance. A two-way fireplace peeks through to the main bedroom. The use of fluted glass windows in the kitchen and en suite is a design feature that also provides privacy.

“So we’ve got whites on whites, which allow the home to perform really well in summertime, and not absorb the heat,” Cetrtek says. “And then there’s lots of glass on the northern facade, just to get as much natural light in during winter as possible.

“So even though the Palm Springs aesthetic is a really beautiful look in its own right, it’s actually quite a perfect thing to apply in the Canberra landscape.”