Point Lonsdale home wins state award

A Point Lonsdale home has been named among the state’s best custom-built homes for its “timeless, elegant feel” and careful attention to detail.

Named “Patching”, the home was recognised with the Best Custom Built Home Award in the $2 million to $2.5 million category at last year’s Victorian Housing and Kitchen & Bathroom Awards.

It follows a successful evening for the project at September’s Western Victorian Housing Industry Awards, which saw the property named the region’s best overall home of the year, best custom home of the year and the best kitchen in the over $80,000 category.

Constructed by South Geelong builder ARCA and designed by Tom Andrews from the Ocean Grove-based Studio A2 Architects, “Patching” was designed as a forever home with a brief that called for high quality fixtures and finishes that will stand the test of time.

The outcome is a blend of aesthetics and functionality – a spacious and light-filled home with high pitched ceilings, five bedrooms and inclusions such as a spa, pool, gymnasium and a lift to allow its owners to age comfortably in the home.

ARCA director Chris Hunger said the award recognition validated years of hard work.

“Professionally, as a builder, to be acknowledged for the craftsmanship and the workmanship elements, and the attention to detail, that’s really what we hang our hats on and try to use to set ourselves apart from the competition,” he said.

This craftmanship is most apparent in the beautifully finished, flowing curves that feature throughout the home, from curved walls, ceilings and benchtops to the intricate staircase in the home’s entryway, which had to be constructed in place on site.

Now a focal point of the home, the curved timber and steel staircase required a lot of problem-solving to deliver, and Hunger praised Andrews’ “masterful” design.

“We had to build it in place, and we had to manipulate the steel and adjust it as we went,” he said.

“It’s possibly more of a work of art than just a place to transition upstairs.”

For both Hunger and Andrews, who live locally in Point Lonsdale, “Patching” also serves as a celebration of the talent that exists on the Bellarine Peninsula.

“For such a small little piece of paradise that Point Lonsdale is, to actually be recognised at a state level for a project like this really highlights the immense talent that we have available to us,” Hunger said. “You don’t need to go to big whizzbang builders from Melbourne because our builders and architects are totally capable, and in this instance, smashed the competition.”

For more information, head to arcabuild.com.au