The Age- Market Street

Architect Graham Crist’s first solo residential project was his own home – a little warehouse in South Melbourne.
Graham Crist studied architecture in Perth and began his career there, but then became “part of the exodus to Melbourne.” “There was a sense, in Perth that Melbourne was where it was all happening.” he says.
Crist travelled east in 1995 to work with Denton Corker Marshall on the Melbourne Museum. Four years later, he teamed up with fellow West Australian, Stuart Harrison whom he had known at university, and they formed Harrison & Crist Architects.
In the meantime, Crist had built his own house, which was also his first solo residential project in Melbourne. He describes it as “a little black warehouse.”
The project was a million miles from the Perth style of building, where there is lots of space in which to spread out, and came with its own set of challenges.
Crist bought a 100-square metre block in what was primarily an industrial part of South Melbourne. He designed a two-storey warehouse-style building right up to the boundary, nestled up against a weatherboard cottage.
“There were all sorts of things we had to deal with there,” he says. “It was a tiny site; the soil was weird; and we were building in an industrial area.”
However, it turned out beautifully and he is still living there. Crist designed the building to create a feeling of space within. In the living area, the ceilings are 6 metres high. “It’s a bit of a Tardis,” he says. “People don’t expect it to be so spacious indie.”
It’s a building that is at once shy and gregarious. To the street, it shows nothing but a black wall and little to suggest that it is a stylish and comfortable home. At the rear, it is creative and sophisticated. The back wall is panels of opaque glass that are white during the day and pearly at night making intriguing shadows of furniture and people. “A bit like a Japanese lantern at night,” says Crist.