Heritage and New Combine in Piccolo House

Mixed-use building Piccolo House, a collaboration between boutique developer Piccolo and Wood Marsh Architecture, is a new landmark set to become part of South Melbourne’s urban fabric

Emerging from its historic origins, Piccolo House — a mixed-use development that includes luxury multi-residential, hospitality and retail spaces, as well as a new home for its developer and namesake, Piccolo — has been designed with context front of mind. The free-standing building’s unique appearance is the result of a collaboration between the boutique developer and Wood Marsh Architecture.

‘We based the building on the heavy lintels and strong masonry of the surrounding laneways and old factories. It’s meant to look like a block of stone or concrete that’s been chiselled out, chamfered and faceted,’ explains Roger Wood, director of Wood Marsh. The facade, punctuated with coloured reflective glass, is at once monolithic and ethereal. Connecting the building to its immediate surroundings at street level, one side is covered in punctured Corten steel. At night the installation is illuminated in a way that’s reminiscent of a Dan Flavin artwork, but also creates a sense of safety in the laneway.

The building’s exterior expression and interior experience are effortlessly connected, with Piccolo’s penthouse headquarters being the ultimate example of the architect-developer partnership. Michael Piccolo travelled to Italy to visit stone quarries himself, in search of a ‘particular silver travertine based on detailed instructions from Roger’. ‘We’d spoken about the grain and visual aesthetic, but the only way to achieve it was to physically get out in the quarries and look at it,’ Piccolo says.  The Italian travertine is complemented by raw off-form concrete and blackened timber to create a dark, cinematic space that draws the eye outside to the view of the iconic skyline of nearby Melbourne’s CBD.

Text / Suzy Annetta
Images / Trevor Mein