It was a pleasure having DiMase Architects work on a major upgrade to our terrace house in Fitzroy.

Antony commenced our project with his customary quiet and confident demeanour, and his wealth of experience quickly became evident. Antony and Niea listened carefully to our requirements and guided us deftly through the process, providing excellent advice along the way. They were able to skilfully accommodate our ever-changing needs, and went about the business always with good humour and yet the utmost professionalism.

We liked Antony’s passion for the environment, and his ideas to create high quality, sustainable solutions. We also liked Antony’s willingness to share his considerable knowledge and to train and empower the younger members of his team, and his pride in ensuring a diverse and inclusive work environment. In addition, Antony’s passion for the use of his bicycle as a mode of transport regardless of the distance and weather conditions was enviable and arguably unparalleled.

The result of such passion and pride in his work resulted, in our case, in a clever architectural solution that struck the perfect balance between comfortable, contemporary living, and a nod to the Victorian heritage of our home.

Donna and Michael are very pleased with the finished house, which also functions as an office for both of them when they are not overseas for their work.

It’s a very easy house to live in – the spaces work well,” says Donna. “I was concerned that it would still be a very small house, but it actually feels quite spacious because of all the light and the high ceilings.

It works well thermally too; the couple says that the downstairs stays cool through the hot days of summer, aided by good cross ventilation and night purging of warm air.

Our energy bills are roughly half of previous. Artificial augmentation of heating and cooling has been minimal so far – though we’re in that autumn period where it’s neither super hot or cold.

Nonetheless, the retention of masonry and the thermal mass it provides + the double glazing and insulation means that the interior temperature is very stable. We are very glad we got into the house when we did – things went pear-shaped in the world not long after, and working from home here is a pleasure whereas we’d have been going stark staring mad in the original house or the rental.

A number of friends came to look at the place – all of them have commented that they can see the hand of an architect in it (and said in a positive way!). It’s exceeded our expectations all around. Once we’ve been in for a full year and seen the way it works through the seasons I’ll no doubt appreciate it even more, but the view lines and alignment of windows and the way light comes through is fantastic. The yellow feature wall works really well – it adds a golden cast to the light as the sun comes through. Alas a photo doesn’t do it justice.

Visitors have been interested in the modernist colour scheme & in the use of low-maintenance surfaces. The lack of grout has had many who clean those surfaces regularly waxing lyrical (me being one of them – it seems impossible to clean grout properly without eventually destroying it).

We’ve ended up repurposing the rain garden as a herb garden by just leaving enough rocks in it to stop soil washing away when a deluge comes. We’ve also been using it for vermiculture by embedding a couple of in-ground worm-farms in it so we can do on-site composting. Between the two we’ve got a wide variety of herbs growing successfully where we couldn’t before. Worms seem to be much better than just adding fertilizer. I mention the rain garden and our use for it because it’s not something we would have had unless Yarra had insisted, but it’s actually been a positive, so that experience might be useful to other of your clients. So – we’re all well and happy to be home at this end.