A Melbourne residence daring to redefine the art of industrial living

I believe Melbourne is the home of minimalism and clean industrial design.

The challenge faced with simplicity is how to make your home NOT feel barren, bland and uninviting?

"I have found that you must find synergy between surfaces".

Carefully curating materials with non-replicable textural and tonal variation to create unique surfaces that tell a story.

This is why I love working zero exposure finishes such as burnished concrete.

When burnished concrete is surface polished, you will always find different tones and patterns throughout your concrete being created during the burnishing process. Burnishing is detrimental to being able to have polished concrete with 0 - meagre aggregate showing (no burnish, no surface polish)

Surface polishing your concrete is designed to open up your concrete to allow chemicals to freely penetrate the concrete and create a smooth glass-like surface, available in a multitude of gloss levels.

This combination of polishing and chemically refining the concrete will enhance the concrete's natural colours, tones and features, just like honing marble reveals the natural feature of the stone.

The chemicals used are required to give your surface strength and integrity, making your polished concrete ready for life and significantly increasing the surface density in reducing the concrete's porosity for stain resistance.

You can not just polish the concrete without chemicals. Otherwise, it will stain easily (yes, even if it is sealed)

Project overview:

A new luxury urban home; with a clean, straightforward plan.

"We want a surface polish" (i love it when it is that simple).

The concrete was tightly burnished. Unfortunately, a thick layer of red dust was worked into the surface, but I had a plan to refresh the floor, and that is what we did.

Finish decided:

Finish - surface polish (hiperfloor polished concrete)

Gloss level - low sheen

New or existing concrete?

New concrete purpose poured for a surface polish.

Scope rationale and alignment to the brief

Complete the hiperfloor-approved surface polish method to create a clean, glass like a polished concrete floor that reveals between 0-5% aggregate

Additional processes to meet the brief:

• 1x addition wet polishing process to remove clay and debris

Outcome:

This floor connects each element of the home's design, tying all the rammed earth timber and bricks together, creating a truly one-of-a-kind space and surface.

This creates a space that is earthly claiming and luxurious.

A space where the homeowner can enjoy with family and friends and create memories to last a lifetime.

Builder: fix building works

Floor and wall finishes: Raw Surfaces

photography: brayden warhurst