'More bling, more punch': The Hampton pads that are a cut above your average beach house

You can’t blame the high-end homes of bayside Melbourne for embracing the summer, but how does their design reflect the rest of the year? It’s a conundrum answered in built form by architects Bayley Ward at Caspian, a Hampton development of 18 residences that they call “a home for all seasons”.

Bayley Ward director Nick Readett-Bayley pinpoints the meticulous planning and detail that sets Caspian apart from the “typical beach houses” in the area.

“We workshopped the angles from the beginning and wanted to have a point of difference,” he says. “We’re not a design practice that makes anything wishy-washy, and that tends to be the approach in Hampton – the palette in that part of Melbourne is a little bleached-out and whitewashed – while we tried to inject texture and layering.”

He and fellow director Richard Newling-Ward took inspiration from work their firm’s own high-end house designs – Portsea is a favourite stomping ground of their clients – and the waterside wonders of Sydney Harbour.

“They have a little more bling; they have more punch in the layering of the details and the choice of materials that create much more depth in the home,” Readett-Bayley says. “One of my personal favourites in Caspian is the fully perforated bronze sliding panel onto the butler’s pantry.

It makes sure the pantry isn’t some stuffy area but a space that has been well thought through with a life of its own.”

Another point of difference: reintroducing the corridor. “Using the hallway as a separate zone really takes it from being a standard apartment to a refined way of living,” Readett-Bayley says. “It’s not about being greeted by a big, open space with a kitchen at one end that looks directly into a bedroom; rather, we create a sense of space and privacy that normally you only find in a house rather than an apartment.”

This speaks directly to the typical buyer at the Caspian: the downsizer moving from a larger trophy home to a more manageable trophy apartment.

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It was important to Bayley Ward to ensure each apartment had the same level of luxury, such as the strip of aged bronze encircling the chamfered-edged stone kitchen bench top – a subtle echo of the fine detailing on the exterior – and the island bench’s strong accent colours.

“Every apartment has exactly the same level of specification in the detail, such as the Wolf appliances in the kitchens and the fluted glass in the bathrooms, to give a great level of detail to the homes,” says Newling-Ward.

Landscaping is by long-time Bayley & Ward collaborator Jack Merlo, while Caspian’s sole nod to communal living is in the form of the serene basement wine cellar.